Esala Vakamacawai is a PhD candidate at the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury. Esala has a background in medicine where he graduated from the University of the South Pacific with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree. He completed his postgraduate studies at the Fiji National University with a Master of Medicine in General Surgery. Esala's thesis is on Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus where he is exploring how cultural and practical motivation can be used to reduce the risk of the disease in the iTaukei.