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Director-General of Health and Chief Executive
Dr Diana Sarfati
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 and 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.
(Photo of Dr Sarfati by Alan Dove, University of Otago Magazine)
Chief Financial Officer
Fergus Welsh
Fergus is a chartered accountant with more than 35 years' public sector financial management experience. Before joining the Ministry in 2016, he held senior finance roles across several government agencies including at the Treasury, where he held roles as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accountant. He is also a board member at the External Reporting Board (an Independent Crown Entity), and a Member of the State Sector Retirement Savings Scheme (SSRSS) Advisory Board.
In his role as Chief Financial Officer, Fergus is a key partner to the Director-General and the rest of the Executive Governance Team in supporting sound financial management across the Ministry’s departmental and non-departmental expenditure (DE and NDE) activities, and ensuring the Ministry meets its responsibilities under the Public Finance Act.
Acting Deputy Director-General, Clinical, Community and Mental Health
Geoff Short
Geoff has worked in a range of roles across the public sector for the last 25 years. He has worked in a range of different roles primarily in the social sector with a focus on policy development, whānau centred approaches, and navigating within the machinery of government.
Geoff joined the Ministry in 2023 to support the Ministry’s change programmes. He and his team support the Ministry’s clinical leadership and the leadership of mental health, addiction and suicide prevention work programmes.
Deputy Director-General, Corporate Services
Celia Wellington
Celia has extensive experience in the field of organisational development, with a focus on organisational performance, capability development and culture change. She began her career in the field of organisational psychology, delivering consultancy services across the public and private sectors, and then moved into senior corporate roles in ACC and ESR.
Celia joined the Ministry in 2018 as the Group Manager People & Capability, before taking on the role of Deputy Director-General Corporate Services in 2020. Together, the corporate groups in the directorate ensure the internal machinery of the organisation works well in order to support the overall performance (financial and non-financial) of the Ministry.
Deputy Director-General, Evidence Research and Innovation
Dean Rutherford
Dean has spent more than 25 years working in a range of roles across the public sector, with a focus on data, reporting and analytics. He joined the Ministry in 2019 in the role of GM of Health and Disability Intelligence where he led the analytics and health surveys teams, as well as a growing the health research function. Dean has led the analytics function across the Ministry, focusing on growing capability and standardising the way in which analytics and analysis are created and used.
As Deputy Director General, Dean and his teams are working with colleagues across the health system to ensure evidence, research and innovation are embedded in the way we collectively deliver our work.
Deputy Director-General, Government and Executive Services
Sarah Turner
Sarah’s management career has included policy, service delivery and operations, as well as leading and embedding organisational change. Over her career, she has led teams and business units ranging in size from nine to 900 people.
Sarah joined the Ministry in early 2019 from the Ministry of Justice, where she spent eight years in group management and deputy secretary roles, with her work including service design and improvement, service commissioning, and implementing legislative change.
Her role at the Ministry has involved looking after the machinery of government and integrity processes associated with supporting Ministers, the Director-General and the Executive Team.
Deputy Director-General, Māori Health
John Whaanga
John is affiliated to Ngāti Rākaipaaka, Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Rongomaiwahine. In 2018, he was acknowledged in parliament for his work in successfully negotiating a $100 million Treaty of Waitangi settlement for Ngā Iwi me Ngā Hapū o Te Rohe o Te Wairoa – this was the culmination of over 30 years work.
John began his career in the Department of Conservation in 1989 (working on Treaty of Waitangi policy and negotiations), before moving on to the Ministry of Education (Māori Education Group) in 1991.
John originally joined the Ministry of Health in 1993, as a foundation member of the then newly established Māori Health Directorate, Te Kete Hauora. He then spent six years working in the Ministry, culminating in management roles in both public health and Māori health (as Manager, Te Kete Hauora). Following that, John worked for KPMG Consulting for 2 years and then for over 10 years he ran his own management consulting company, Kaipuke Consultants Limited.
John then undertook a number of significant roles in tertiary education, including as: Chief Advisor Wānanga, Tertiary Education Commission; Deputy Chief Executive, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa; and Chief Operating Officer, Taratahi Institute of Agriculture. He returned to the Ministry of Health and took up his current position in 2019.
Deputy Director-General, Public Health Agency
Dr Andrew Old
Andrew is a public health physician and has held a number of clinical leadership roles, as well as executive leadership and governance positions in strategy, community participation, patient experience, and quality improvement in his 20+ year career.
Andrew was the 2018/19 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow for New Zealand, and was based between the Clinical Excellence Research Center at Stanford University, and the Social Interventions Research Evaluation Network at UC San Francisco.
Upon returning to NZ he was almost immediately seconded to support the Northern Region COVID-19 response, latterly as Chief Clinical Officer, before becoming the inaugural Deputy Director-General for the Public Health Agency on its formation in July 2022.
Andrew received his medical and public health degrees from the University of Auckland, and is a Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine. He was awarded Fellowship of the New Zealand Medical Association in 2011 for services to the profession and the public.
Deputy Director-General, Regulation and Monitoring
Simon Medcalf
Simon came to the Ministry with extensive experience in the United Kingdom which included 15 years as a senior civil servant in a range of roles in the Department of Health, Cabinet Office and NHS England. During his time in the UK, he led on many different national policy programmes, including work on a multi-year plan and funding for the NHS in England, and designing the reform of the adult social care system.
After joining the Ministry in early 2020, Simon supported the early Covid response and was then seconded to the Transition Unit in DPMC to lead policy and legislation for the Government's health reforms - culminating in the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act that came into effect in July 2022. Subsequently, as Group Manager – Strategy, within Strategy Policy and Legislation | Te Pou Rataki, he led the development of the suite of six new health strategies published in July 2022.
As Deputy Director-General for Regulation and Monitoring | Te Pou Whakamaru, Simon now oversees the delivery of high-quality and safe services.
Deputy Director-General, Strategy Policy and Legislation
Maree Roberts
Maree has had a wide range of experience in the public service, primarily in social sector strategy & policy.
Maree has been leading the Strategy & Policy Directorate for 6 years at the Ministry including through COVID-19.
Prior to that Maree held several senior roles in the Ministry for Social Development in Policy and Service Delivery and in the Ministry for Children. She managed large government programmes such as the White Paper for Vulnerable Children and the development of the Vulnerable Children Act. She also led several change programmes relating to Child, Youth and Family, Vulnerable Children and the Ministerial Work Programme on Family and Sexual Violence.
Over her career, Maree has had a variety of roles including as a Private Secretary, managing employment and skills policy in the Department of Labour, and working for the Ministry of Education in Christchurch following the earthquakes. She also contributed to the set-up of the Children’s Ministry.
