Speakers

Dr Diana Sarfati was appointed to the role of Director-General of Health and Chief Executive of the Ministry of Health in November 2022 having acted in the role since July 2022.

Diana is a public health physician, cancer epidemiologist and health services researcher, and she has a PhD from the University of Otago.

Diana was previously Tumuaki, Chief Executive & National Director of Te Aho o Te Kahu - Cancer Control Agency and prior to that she was National Director of Cancer Control at the Ministry of Health where she oversaw the implementation of the agency. From 2015 to 2019, Diana was the co-head and then head of the Department of Public Health and the Director of the Cancer and Chronic Conditions (C3) research group at University of Otago, Wellington.

Diana is a former member of the National Cancer Programme Leadership Board, the National Screening Advisory Group, the National Ethics Advisory Committee, the Bowel Cancer Taskforce and the National Bowel Cancer Screening Advisory Committee.

She is currently a Lancet Commissioner for the Health Systems and Cancer Lancet Commission, and a member of the International Advisory Committee to Lancet Oncology, the Advisory Committee to International Agency for Research on Cancer’s (IARC) Pacific cancer hub, IARC’s international expert group on social inequalities in cancer, and the Board of the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership. 

She also led a Lancet Oncology series on cancer in small island developing states.

Margie Apa is Chief Executive of Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand, the government’s new centralised national health organisation. She has more than two decades of health-sector leadership experience, previously serving as CEO of Counties Manukau District Health Board.

Before becoming CEO of Counties Manukau District Health Board, Margie was Director of Population Health and Strategy at the district health board. She is the first Samoan to lead a district health board in New Zealand and has also served as Deputy Director-General Sector Capability and Implementation at the Ministry of Health. In December 2021 she was named as Chief Executive of Health New Zealand, which is set to come into operation on 1 July 2022.

Margie graduated from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in management and employment relations, and also has a Master of Public Administration (Executive) from Victoria University of Wellington.

She has been on the Board of World Vision New Zealand since 2011 and was appointed Chair of the Board in 2019.

Margie is an active member of the Pacific Island Presbyterian community and carries the honorific title Fepulea’i from her family village of Sale’aula, Savai’I in Samoa.

Dr Liz Craig is a Labour List MP based in Invercargill.

She is a Parliamentary Private Secretary for Health and a member of the Social Services and Community Select Committee.

Prior to entering Parliament in 2017 Liz was the founding Director of the NZ Child and Youth Epidemiology Service and spent nearly a decade monitoring the health of New Zealand’s children and young people.

Chris graduated as an Aeronautical Engineer in the UK and spent the early part of his career working in the aerospace and defence industries in procurement, production planning, and operations management roles. 

He and his wife fell in love with New Zealand during an all too short holiday in 2000. A year later they emigrated with their two daughters. 

Since arriving in NZ he has worked in the healthcare (ADHB), the Accident Compensation Corporation, and Auckland Transport in various procurement and strategic development roles. He has also been privileged to be:

• Chair the NZ branch of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply,
• Treasurer and Chair for Inspiring Communities, a not for profit committed to supporting Community Led Development in NZ
• Mentor for a number of organisations including First Foundation

He currently lives in Auckland but has a national role as Director Procurement and Supply Chain for Te Whatu Ora.

Michael joined Pharmac's senior leadership team in September 2017. His experience and knowledge of the health sector include 9 years working in various roles for the Ministry of Health – with the last 5 years working as Senior Health Advisor to the Minister of Health – and various roles with the NHS in Scotland.

As Director of Strategy, Policy and Performance, Michael provides leadership and coordination of Pharmac’s strategy and related project work, including supporting Pharmac’s work in hospital medical devices.