Emma Wehipeihana

Ngāti Tukorehe, Ngāti Porou

Dr Emma Wehipeihana is an award-winning writer, podcaster and political commentator. Combining expertise in medicine and accessible writing, she shares information on the experience of Māori in New Zealand's healthcare system.

Many people who enter the medical profession spend their entire lives aspiring to do so. For Emma, it hadn't crossed her mind until she realised that one day she would have to explain to her child what she had dedicated her life to.

Having studied through the Māori and Pacific Admissions Scheme, she was inspired by her teachers, mentors, and fellow students, including lecturers Papaarangi Reid, Elana Curtis, and Rhys Jones. Not only did she acquire technical skills from their lectures, but they also shared a "path to follow" to advance Māori health and wellness.

After graduating and working as a surgical registrar at Middlemore Hospital, she continues to incorporate their ideas on how indigenous health equity can be achieved.  Emma continues to write and produce content, but now her focus is on the challenges, experiences, and hopes within medicine.

She lives in Tāmaki Makaurau with her mother and daughter. Her first book is the bestselling memoir There’s a Cure for This, published by Penguin Random House in 2023.

Links:

Newsroom articles – Emma Espiner

Doctor and political commentator Emma Espiner on her journey to finding purpose

Emma Espiner: a life less ordinary

Podcast: Getting better – A year in the life of a Māori medical student

Dr Emma Espiner speaks from the heart as a Māori doctor

Hāpai te Hauora

He Rangatira Our Leaders

Leoma Tawaroa

Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Whanganui, Ngāti Apa

Leoma Tawaroa is dedicated to working towards equity for Māori in her health and social care roles that focus on community and youth development work, whānau ora action, project coordination, and management.
A competent psychiatrist with a moko kauae, fluent in te reo Māori, who can sit and play the guitar and tell really good stories.

Casey Mansson

Ngāti Awa, Ngāpuhi

Raised in Tāmaki Makaurau, during high school, she became aware of the social categorisation between Māori and non-Māori in Aotearoa and the health disparities among different ethnic groups.

Māia Lockyer

Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga, Ngāti Porou, Rongomaiwahine

Māia Lockyer is currently a 3rd-year medical student at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, the University of Otago.