Ayesha Verrall is a New Zealand Labour Party politician and former Minister of Health who has served as a list Member of Parliament since 2020 [40][34][38].
According to a single reputable secondary source, Verrall was educated at Otago Medical School and the University of Otago, including the Centre for International Health within the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine [18][20][21]. She is described in that source as having trained as a junior doctor at Wellington Hospital and as a medical trainee in Singapore, where she worked with patients affected by dengue, tuberculosis, AIDS, and antibiotic resistance [8][11]. Around 2010, she is also reported to have studied tropical medicine in Peru [15].
According to a single reputable secondary source, Verrall pursued doctoral research at the Centre for International Health, conducting fieldwork in Indonesia studying the immunity of people living with tuberculosis patients [2][3][16]. She is further described as an infectious-diseases physician and researcher, as well as a senior lecturer in pathology and molecular medicine at Otago University [7][14][6]. She is also characterised as an epidemiologist and public health specialist [5][12].
From 10 April 2020, according to a single reputable secondary source, Verrall served as auditor of New Zealand's contact-tracing system for the Ministry of Health and is credited as author of the Rapid Audit of Contact Tracing for COVID-19 in New Zealand [17][4]. She entered Parliament on 8 December 2020 as a list MP, according to a single reputable secondary source [28][38]. She subsequently held the role of Associate Minister of Health, confirmed by multiple sources [24][25].
Verrall went on to hold the confirmed offices of Minister for COVID-19 Response, Minister of Health, and Minister for Food Safety [30][34][31]. According to a single reputable secondary source, she also held the portfolios of Minister for Research, Science and Innovation, Minister for Seniors, and Acting Minister of Conservation, as well as Acting Minister for Food Safety [32][33][23][22]. She is also reported to have stood as a candidate for the Wellington North electorate [36].