Meet the Team Behind Novator Medical

Over Dr Sarah Hickton-Burnett’s 24 years as a GP and community urgent care practitioner, one nagging thought kept returning to her: What would it be like if she spent less time treating disease when people had developed symptoms and focused instead on spotting diseases before they had a grip on her patients?

The answer came in 2008 when Sarah moved from Auckland to the United Kingdom and started working in preventative health assessments, first for Bupa and then for London-based Preventicum.

“At Preventicum we used MRI scanning and other imagining technologies to, for example, pick up cancers before they became symptomatic. That’s powerful because once cancers are symptomatic they’re a long way down the road to becoming untreatable,” she says.

“The same thing applied to a host of conditions. Time and time again we identified diabetes before it became a problem. Or cardiac issues. Or aneurysms of the aorta. You name it; there’s a long list of conditions that we uncovered before they became major problems for the client. That was a huge win for them because they could introduce medical or lifestyle interventions that kept them healthy. “And there were of course many clients who left with a clean bill of health; they had the peace of mind that comes from undertaking a comprehensive assessment and been given the all-clear. Either way, it was deeply satisfying work. I knew my mission was preventative health.”

Sarah’s passion for preventative health is matched by an interest in exercise medicine – she completed a Diploma in Sports and Exercise Medicine from the University College London in 2016 – and an ongoing fascination with current medical research. Combined, these things led her in 2025 to open Novator in Auckland.

Novator’s offering is simple but unique in New Zealand: An extensive, high-quality medical assessment that offers generous consultation time with a specialised general practitioner with international experience, and advanced diagnostics including imaging. It’s a single in-clinic experience with results and recommendations delivered on the spot before clients head out the door.

“It’s an assessment designed specifically to put clients on the front foot with respect to their personal health,” Sarah explains. “I think of it as an investment in your well-being, a level of assessment that’s well beyond the scope of the standard annual check-up you can expect from your GP.”