57 | Hon Dr. Ayesha Verrall on parliament, Health NZ & infectious diseases

Doctor NOS

This episode launches to mark the change of our healthcare system into Health New Zealand. Honorable Dr. Ayesha Verrall is an infectious diseases specialist and Labour list member of parliament from Wellington. She is Minister for Food Safety and Minister for Seniors, alongside Associate Minister of Health and Associate Minister of Research, Science and Innovation. Ayesha is passionate about preventing illness so that every New Zealander can enjoy good health and live a free and full life. Ayesha lives in Wellington with her partner Alice and their daughter.
In this episode, we discuss her journey from her childhood in Maldives to infectious diseases medicine, to her work as a Labour list Member of Parliament today. She expands on the similarities and differences between medicine and politics, her current mahi and projects, the challenges she has faced in this journey so far, balancing academia with medicine and her optimism for Health NZ.
As always, if you have any feedback or queries, or if you would like to get in touch with the speaker, feel free to get in touch at [e-mail].

Audio credit:
Bliss by Luke Bergs https://soundcloud.com/bergscloud
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/33DJFs9
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/e9aXhBQDT9Y

Support the Show.

As always, if you have any feedback or queries, or if you would like to get in touch with the speaker, feel free to get in touch at [e-mail].

Audio credit:
Bliss by Luke Bergs https://soundcloud.com/bergscloud
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/33DJFs9
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/e9aXhBQDT9Y

Chapter

1. Ayesha Verrall 2 (00:00:00)

2. Finding medicine (00:01:17)

3. Affinity for involvement and leadership (00:03:33)

4. Starting the NZMSJ (00:04:12)

5. Finding Infectious Diseases (ID) as a specialty (00:04:44)

6. Moving into political work (00:08:07)

7. Similarities between medicine & politics (00:11:04)

8. Highlights of Labour MP (00:13:11)

9. Unseen work of officials (00:16:26)

10. Media & managing pressures (00:19:06)

11. Routines as MP (00:21:35)

12. ID fellowship in Singapore (00:25:19)

13. Finding mentors (00:27:46)

14. Routine as an ID physician (00:29:50)

15. Balancing academia and clinical work (00:32:41)

16. Work-life balance (00:36:15)

17. Future for Dr. Verrall (00:37:43)

18. Health NZ (00:38:59)