Karen Brewer (Whakatōhea, Ngāi Te Rangi) is a kaupapa Māori researcher specialising in speech-language therapy and health equity. She is Co-Director Māori of Pūtahi Manawa | Healthy Hearts Aotearoa New Zealand and a Senior Research Fellow in Speech Science and Psychology. Karen completed her PhD in Speech Science in 2014, following a Master of Speech-language Therapy Practice at Waipapa Taumata Rau and a BA in Linguistics from Victoria University of Wellington. Her research focuses on stroke, aphasia, cultural safety, and Māori workforce development. From 2020–2023, she contributed to the Manawataki Fatu Fatu programme, examining inequities in cardiovascular care for Māori and Pacific peoples using kaupapa Māori and Pacific methodologies. Karen has published widely in health and speech science journals and presented internationally. She has also appeared before the Waitangi Tribunal as a technical witness. Her work is driven by improving outcomes for Māori whānau affected by stroke.

Tasha Burton is a PhD candidate at the University of Otago and a researcher at Manawaora | The Centre for Health. Her research focuses on cardiovascular prevention, with a particular interest in culturally grounded, community-embedded approaches to heart health for Māori.

Dr Duvuru is working as Transplant Medical Officer at Auckland City Hospital. He completed his Cardiothoracic training from India and completed his fellowship in Cardiothoracic surgery at Auckland City Hospital and Toronto General Hospital. His special interests are in Thoracic organ transplantation, mechanical circulatory support and Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.

Hannah is a registered clinical exercise physiologist and has been clinical lead at Manawaora The Centre for Health for over 12 years. A recent PhD candidate herself, Hannah has provided the clinical lens to many community led research projects alongside the Manawaora Integrated Health and Research team.

Andrew is a senior cardiology Nurse Practitioner and has led the development of nurse led clinics and innovative nursing practice in Counties Manukau.

Julie Winter-Smith (‘Alaki Fonua/Pelehake, Tonga and Daku, Fiji) is a Professional Teaching Fellow at the University of Auckland and leads Pūtahi Manawa’s Fatu Malosi Summer Research Programme. Julie completed her PhD in Population Health in 2024. Her doctoral research used Statistics New Zealand’s Integrated Data Infrastructure to explore the epidemiology of cardiovascular disease among different Pacific ethnic groups, including how this differs for Pacific peoples born outside of New Zealand. Julie is passionate about achieving heart health equity for Pacific peoples and building the Pacific heart health research workforce pipeline.