Dr Samantha (Sam) Murton is a working Wellington GP and Senior Lecturer and Trainee Intern Co-Convenor at University of Otago, Wellington. She was the College’s first medical director and is passionate about supporting general practice. Sam advocates for the profession at a national level, and she does this while maintaining practical experience that keeps her advice relevant and realistic. Sam has a fascination for the use of art in medicine – using drawings as a way of simplifying complex medical information for patients. In 2015 she published her book, Minor Surgery: A Visual Guide for Office-Based Surgery from Beginner to Expert. The book is based on her 14 years working in the Hutt Valley Plastic Surgery Unit and is filled with her own watercolour illustrations of procedures. In the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours, Sam was appointed as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for her services to medical education, especially general practice. In all Sam’s roles she champions collaboration and transparency. She is willing and equipped to represent the challenges that face general practitioners and their patients, bring GPs together nationally, and champions the role of the expert general practitioner who works in the broader primary care team.

Born in Newcastle (UK) and studied in Glasgow (Scotland), I emigrated to Aotearoa NZ in 2006 - initially living in Christchurch, Wellington then Auckland. My dad was a photographer and trained me up from the minute I could hold a camera, mostly on arduous hiking holidays across Europe. During a prolonged illness aged 12 I was bedbound for a month or so, and my mum bought me a drawing pad and a "How To Draw" book. My first true drawing was a sketch of my grandad who had fallen asleep in a chair by my bed. Fast-forward 28 years and here I am, an ED doctor and amateur photography-artist-type-person!

Renee Liang blends her vocations of medicine and arts. A paediatrician with special interest in community and youth health, she is also Asian Theme Lead on landmark longitudinal research study Growing Up In NZ. As a senior NZ artist, Renee explores the migrant experience; she wrote, produced and nationally toured eight plays; made operas, musicals and community arts programmes; her poems, essays and short stories are studied from primary to tertiary level. She was honoured to be made MNZM in 2018 for Services to the Arts.

Dr Aimee Rondel is a GP in Dunedin, she has an interest in medical education and works as a Professional Practice Fellow at the University of Otago. She has been embroidering for as long as she can remember and over the last few years has started translating her experiences in medicine into embroidered works. She sews fannies to amuse her work spouse and annoy internet prudes. Aimee had her first exhibition last year and has had one of her works published in the LA Times