Dr Nick Baker
Dr Nick Baker – Nicholas John de Chair Baker BSc MB ChB, DCH, FRMetS, FRACP, AFRACMA
Dr Baker is the chief medical officer (CMO) for Nelson Marlborough Health, a community and general paediatrician and senior clinical lecturer community child health University of Otago Wellington School of Medicine. His interests include child health policy, epidemiology, strategy, clinical governance, environmental health and advocacy.
He served two terms as elected president of the Paediatric Society of New Zealand from 2001 to 2007 and was the co-founder of the New Zealand Child and Youth Epidemiology Service.
From 2007 to 2014 he was the chair of the Child and Youth Mortality Review Committee, developing systems to best share what can be learned from deaths and bring systems improvement. He has been a co-investigator within the national SUDI research project.
His currently chairs the national CMO group, is a member of the executive steering group for the New Dunedin Hospital, member of the Ministry of Health Digital investment board and sits on the DHB national executive group advising on the transition of New Zealand health services.
Dr Jo Baxter (Poutini Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō)
Dr Joanne Baxter is a public health medicine physician and director of the Division of Health Science Kōhatu Centre for Hauora Māori and co-director of the Māori health workforce development unit. She is also a member of the Ministry of Health’s health workforce advisory board.
Dr Baxter is recognised for her research on Māori mental health and equity, ethnic health inequalities, Indigenous medical education and Māori health workforce development. She has played a critical role in strategic Māori development within the health sciences division including leading a team to dramatically increase the recruitment, retention and achievement of Māori students in health sciences and health professional programmes.
Dr Fiona Cram (Ngāti Pāhauwera)
Fiona is the chair of the Family Violence Death Review Committee and the Māori caucus of the mortality review committees, Ngā Pou Arawhenua.
She has tribal affiliations to Ngāti Pāhauwera on the east coast of Aotearoa. She has a background in social and developmental psychology and 25 years’ experience in research and evaluation in the fields of corrections and justice, with a specific interest in the impacts of intimate partner violence on women and their children.
Dr Cram has been involved in the evaluation assessment of both community- and government-directed responses to Māori intimate partner violence and has an in-depth understanding of the determinants of Māori health and wellbeing. An over-riding theme in her work is kaupapa Māori (by Māori, for Māori).
Professor Peter Crampton (chair)
Professor Peter Crampton is a professor of public health in Kōhatu, the Centre for Hauora Māori at the University of Otago. He is a specialist in public health medicine. His research is focused on social indicators and social epidemiology, health care policy and health care organisation and funding.
He has served on numerous advisory panels in a variety of policy areas related to public health, health services and medical education, including more recently the Simpson Review.
He has taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses related to public health, hauora Māori, health systems and health services management. Professor Crampton is a member of the Health Quality & Safety Commission board and is deputy chair of the Southern DHB.
Dr Felicity Dumble
Dr Felicity Dumble grew up and trained in medicine in Auckland and completed her house surgeon years in Auckland and Palmerston North. After moving to Hamilton, she was the senior medical staff member in charge of the Waikato Hospital emergency department medical team for two years. Becoming frustrated with the number of preventable injuries and admissions, Dr Dumble commuted to Auckland to train in public health medicine and undertook advanced training with the ACC, Midland Regional Health Authority and the public health unit of Waikato DHB.
On completing training, Dr Dumble stayed on at the public health unit as a public health medicine specialist and was designated as a medical officer of health in 2002 and director of public health in 2016. She has a particular interest in child health issues and chairs the local Waikato Child and Youth Mortality Review Group (since 2006) and was appointed chair of the Child and Youth Mortality Review Committee from 2014 to 2020. She was deputy chair of the Northern Y Ethics Committee for three terms and was a member of the Family Violence Death Review Panel for the Midland region.
She was president of the New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine from 2017 to 2020. She is currently the public health clinical director for Waikato DHB.
Denis Grennell (Ngāti Maniapoto)
Denis Grennell is an award-winning cultural development consultant working with individuals, teams and organisations.
An experienced educator and developer, Denis has worked with organisations large and small, corporate and industry focused from the public, education, private and volunteer sectors. He has over 20 years’ experience in education focusing on immersion Māori pedagogy from primary, secondary and tertiary. Enhancing this wide experience is his management history in the public and industry sectors.
Dr Aumea Herman
Dr Aumea Herman is the director of pacific health at Waitematā DHB. She is a public health physician and general practitioner and holds a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Auckland.
Dr Herman is a member of the Pasifika Medical Association and former secretary for Te Marae Ora Cook Islands Ministry of Health.
Dr Peter Jansen (Ngati Hinerangi, Ngati Raukawa)
Dr Peter Jansen has been the executive director of medical services and clinical governance for the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, since March 2020. He is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. Prior to this he was principal clinical advisor at ACC, focusing on treatment injury claims and prevention of injuries caused by medical treatment.
Dr Jansen has significant experience as a GP and practice owner in deprived urban group practice (Papakura) and isolated solo rural practice (Whangamatā). Using his GP experience, he has taken roles in pharmaceutical companies and then with ACC in a variety of roles since 2005. He has also worked in medical education, research and health management advisory roles for MauriOra Associates.
In previous general practice leadership roles Dr Jansen has been a member of the Ministry of Health’s performance advisory group for primary care and a member of the executive committee of the Royal New Zealand College of GPs between 2009 and 2010. He was also an inaugural director of ProCare IPA and clinical director of Te Kupenga o Hoturoa PHO. His previous appointments include directorships of Quality Health NZ (formerly the NZ Council of Healthcare Standards), deputy chair of Counties Manukau DHB, board member of MidCentral Health and as an inaugural board member of the Health Quality & Safety Commission.
Professor Alan Merry
Professor Alan Merry is an anaesthesiologist who practises in chronic pain management at Auckland City Hospital. He is a professor in the department of anaesthesiology at the University of Auckland. His previous roles include deputy dean, faculty of medical and health sciences, University of Auckland and chair of the board of the Health Quality & Safety Commission.
He is on the board of Lifebox, an international charity that aims to improve standards of anaesthesia and surgical care in low-income areas of the world. His books, book chapters and papers in peer-reviewed journals reflect interests in human factors, patient safety, global health and simulation.
Dr Nina Scott (Waikato, Ngāti Whātua and Ngāpuhi)
Dr Nina Scott is a public health physician with Waikato DHB who works across a range of organisations in political, policy, research and clinical settings, with the aim of improving organisational focus on Māori health. She is also chair of the Hei Ahuru Mowai – national Māori cancer leadership group.
Dr Scott was principal investigator of the phase 1 Healthier Lives research project, He Pikinga Waiora: making health interventions work for Māori communities 
and led the Te Kōhao community project. The project looked at how kaupapa Māori theory, systems thinking, integrated knowledge translation and community-engaged research can contribute to the development of Māori implementation science in the context of slowing the progression from pre-diabetes to diabetes for Māori communities.
Dr Scott was recognised with the Kudos Science Award in 2020 for her work on the Harti Hauora Tamariki electronic screening tool which aims to address Māori inequity in the health system. The accolade recognised Dr Scott as a leading expert in the use of kaupapa Māori methodologies for health research and her quest to tackle health inequities for Māori.
Her work was also recognised with the Waikato DHB Medical Science Award and a highly commended in the University of Waikato Vision Mātauranga Science Award.
Mr John Tait
John Tait is the chair of the Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee. He has been a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist in Wellington since 1986. He is currently CMO at Capital & Coast DHB and Hutt Valley DHB. Prior to this role he was the executive director clinical, surgery, women’s and children’s.
Mr Tait is an active member of the ACC Neonatal Encephalopathy Taskforce and chair of the National Maternity Monitoring Group (NMMG). He is the vice president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (RANZCOG), vice president of Asia Oceania Federation of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and chair of the COVID-19 Vaccine Independent Safety Monitoring Board.
Muriel Tunoho (Ngāti Raukawa)
Muriel Tunoho is the chairperson for Hutt Union & Community Health Service (HUCHS) – a community-owned health service located in Pomare and Petone.
She has an extensive background in primary health, community development and governance. She is also a leader in the Living Wage Movement and E tū union, working together to lift low pay and strive for a fairer and civil society in Aotearoa.
She is a descendent of Ngāti Raukawa and has two sons and three young grandchildren.
She now convenes HUCHS' patient advisory group, Te Kete Hauora, and has been inspired by patients who are driving change to improve HUCHS' service delivery by whānau with diabetes including co-designing a successful 12-week exercise programme and overseeing a community COVID-19 vaccination response campaign.
Professor Denise Wilson (Ngāti Tahinga (Tainui))
Professor Denise Wilson is professor of Māori health and director of Taupua Waiora Centre for Māori Health Research at the Auckland University of Technology. Her research and publication activities are focused on Māori/Indigenous health, family violence, cultural safety and health (particularly Māori) workforce development.
Prof Wilson has been involved in family violence research and development of the Ministry of Health’s violence intervention programme. She is a member of the Family Violence Death Review Committee and has been a member of the Commission’s Te Rōpū Māori since February 2012.
She is a co-author of The People’s Report: The People’s Inquiry into Addressing Child Abuse and Domestic Violence. She is a fellow of the College of Nurses Aotearoa (NZ) and Te Mata o te Tau (Academy of Māori Research and Scholarship), the editor-in-chief of Nursing Praxis in Aotearoa New Zealand, on the editorial board of Contemporary Nurse and has been appointed to the Health Research Council of New Zealand’s College of Experts.
Professor Alistair Woodward
Professor Alistair Woodward is a public health medicine specialist and professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Auckland. His research focuses on preventable environmental causes of lost wellbeing.
He has contributed previously to advisory groups in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the UK on a wide range of topics, including screening, public health priorities, climate change, tobacco and road safety.
He has been an author on the last four assessment reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Prof Woodward and Tony Blakely wrote The Healthy Country?, a history of life expectancy in Aotearoa New Zealand, published in 2014.
