Dr Frances Matthews is a self-employed medicolegal advisor and GP. She qualified as a doctor in the UK in 1982 and has worked in hospitals and General Practice in the UK, Ireland, Canada and New Zealand. She is a Fellow of the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine in the subspeciality of medico legal advisor. She was called to the bar in Ireland in 2012 and has a Master’s degree in Bioethics and Health Law and a PhD and Masters in Law, all from the University of Otago. Her medicolegal practice involves mostly ACC matters. She has a special interest in the human rights of older adults and has been an external consultant for Age Concern Otago. She is an advisor on healthcare and ACC matters for the Christchurch Citizens Advice Bureau. She currently divides her time between locum GP work and medico legal work.

Ruth is a specialist emergency and rural hospital doctor. After graduating with her MBChB she worked in the outback of Australia before returning to Aotearoa to spend a short time in General Practice. Ruth completed her specialist emergency training in the Auckland area receiving Fellowship in 2007 and Fellowship to the Division of Rural Hospital Medicine in 2013. Ruth has held roles as an Emergency Physician and Rural Hospitalist for the Waikato District Health Board from 2007-2021 where she held successive roles as the Clinical Director of Thames ED, the Clinical Director of Thames Hospital and Community and the Clinical Director of Information Services and Virtual Healthcare. Ruth sees digital technology as playing a pivotal role in healthcare transformation and she has a particular focus on removing barriers to accessing healthcare, she holds postgraduate qualifications in both health services management and health informatics. Ruth was a founding member of the New Zealand Telehealth Forum and the Clinical Informatics Lead Network, she has been the Chair of the New Zealand Telehealth Leadership Group since 2017 and has been the Chief Clinical Officer for Whakarongorau Aotearoa/New Zealand Telehealth Services since 2021. Ruth continues to work clinically at Middlemore Hospital and in rural hospitals throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.

Professor King is an expert in numerous aspects of health law, policy, and reform.  Since arriving at the University of Auckland, Professor King’s research has explored issues at the intersection of population health, the environment, ethics, law and policy. She also continues to examine the ways that the law affects people’s health and access to affordable and equitable health care. For the last decade, her research has focused on the drivers of healthcare costs, with a special interest in market consolidation and efforts to improve transparency in healthcare pricing. This interest led her to co-find The Source on Healthcare Price and Competition (sourceonhealthcare.org), a multidisciplinary website designed to provide curated academic literature, court documents, regulatory and legislative materials, news, and analysis on healthcare price and competition in the United States.  Professor King’s work on healthcare price and competition has resulted in her being asked to testify before members of the U.S. House of Representatives and several state legislatures, as well as serve on a Technical Expertise Panel for the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Morag McDowell, Health and Disability Commissioner, began her term in September 2020. Morag took up the role after serving nearly 13 years as a Coroner based in Auckland. She was formerly a Crown Prosecutor, Director of Proceedings for the Health and Disability Commissioner’s Office, and a Senior Legal Adviser at Crown Law. Since completing her Master of Laws degree, her legal practice has had a strong focus on healthcare law, and she has appeared in different courts and tribunals on a variety of health-related litigation. She has also lectured and published on a range of medico-legal issues. Morag is committed to promoting and protecting the rights of health and disability services consumers where the Code sets the benchmark for good practice, and opportunities for learning and quality improvement are embraced. She strongly values the importance of fair, timely, transparent, and culturally appropriate processes where people are engaged, and given the opportunity to be heard.

With over 15 years of experience, Mihi Blair serves as the Kaiwhakahaere Hauora Māori, Mana Taurite at ProCare Health Ltd., Aotearoa’s largest Primary Health Organisation. Her career focuses on driving positive change for Māori and Pacific communities through strategic management, advocacy, and fostering partnerships with iwi.   Mihi’s expertise spans community engagement, legislative navigation, and funding management, with leadership roles across sectors including health, housing, education, and social services. She serves on the board of Emerge Aotearoa Housing Trust and co-chairs Ngā Matapihi o Te Wairua – GPNZ Māori PHO Leaders Roopu.   Her involvement in the Vaping steering group and the Smokefree Oceania Conference highlights her commitment to equitable policies and community well-being. At ProCare, Mihi ensures the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi remain central to achieving better health outcomes for Māori and future generations.