Mani Mitchell (MNZM)

Mani B Mitchell, Pākehā, change agent, non binary, intersex and queer identifying person. Born in the shadows of the second world war, my parents, loving, remote rural conservative people were poorly equipped to deal with the reality my birth brought to their life. I did not deal with the trauma of my childhood until my 40’s - I had trained as an educator, gone onto local government emergency management, specialized in critical incident stress management, management and then psychotherapy. Once I started to ‘deal’ with my own birth realty, my own trauma, suicidal ideation, I made the decision - I could not change the past - I could, I concluded assist with changing the future. So I have used all my training, my lived experience, aroha, stubbornness, my pain, sadness to bring awareness - visibility of intersex realities and awareness to the world. Find people to collaborate with, work beside - inspire, by working locally, nationally and internationally. My dream is, we will as a global collective, achieve critical mass - change the model. That trauma, stigma, shame and secrecy will be relegated to history as a sad artifact of the past. That intersex persons will be free to be the magnificent humans we are all entitled to be.

 Associate Professor Cindy Towns

Cindy is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean at the University of Otago Wellington. She is a Consultant Physician at Wellington Hospital. Her research interests focus on patient safety and patient rights.

  Jamie Salemink-Waldren 

Jamie (he/him) is a 5th-year medical student at the University of Otago. He is the Rainbow Representative for the Wellington Health Professional Students' Association. Jamie is passionate about education and advocacy for rainbow communities.

Cassie Withey-Rila 

Cassie Withey-Rila (they/them) is a researcher at the University of Otago, working to improve transgender healthcare access. They are a tauiwi immigrant interested in building community within transgender, queer, and disability justice spaces, striving to do so with an anti-racist and anti-colonial lens.

  Dr Sara Filoche

Sara is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Otago Wellington. She has a background in biomedical science and is a health services researcher whose work is centred around improving access to healthcare and reducing health inequities.

  Dr Rona Carroll

Rona is a senior lecturer in Primary Health Care at the University of Otago Wellington and a General Practitioner with a special interest in youth health and transgender healthcare. Her research interests are in gender affirming healthcare in primary care and gender affirming hormone therapy.

Alex Ker

Alex’s research focuses on the social dimensions of trans people's healthcare equity and social wellbeing. He has worked on various community-driven research projects in Aotearoa over the past seven years spanning disciplines of sociology, public health, primary health, psychology and education. He is currently halfway through his PhD at Te Herenga Waka, understanding social ecologies of safety among trans people in Aotearoa.

  Dr Lori Leigh

Lori is a Senior Research Fellow with the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago in Wellington. Lori has a background in the creative and arts sector and is passionate about wellbeing and issues affecting Takatāpui/LGBTQIA+ identities.