The MEDSAC Board is responsible for the successful operation of the organisation, setting strategies, monitoring performance and responding to changing circumstances in the best interests of MEDSAC stakeholders. It identifies principal organisational risks and ensures that there are adequate mitigation strategies in place to manage those risks.

The Board is required to adhere to the Rules of Medical Sexual Assault Clinicians Aotearoa (the ‘Rules’) and other relevant policy, legislation and regulations.

Ka mahi te tawa uho ki te riki. | Well done, you whose courage is like the heart of the tawa tree.

Board Members

MEDSAC Chair

Annette Milligan

Annette is a Registered Nurse who established INP Medical Clinic, Nelson’s Family Planning Clinic in 1989. She managed the Nelson-Marlborough sexual assault team from its inception in 2011. She has a strong background in governance in voluntary and professional capacities. In 2019 she was awarded an ONZM for services to health.

Vice Chair

Kate Taylor

Kate Taylor has been a member of MEDSAC since 2009. She is the Clinical Lead and a rostered doctor for the Waikato Adult and Adolescent Sexual Assault Assessment and Treatment Service. She works as a GP at several high schools and has a keen interest in youth health. In 2015 she completed a postgraduate diploma in Sports and Exercise Medicine. Kate is also the Chair of Midlands Sexual Assault Support Service.

Treasurer

Julia Fink

Julia is a Chartered Accountant with a specialisation in not-for-profit financial reporting. Her most recent full time role was as the Director of Finance, Risk and Digital Solutions at the Upper Hutt City Council, and she has recently moved to directorships and contracting in order to spend more time with her 9 year old son. She also runs her own Christmas decorating company for commercial clients. Julia’s interests are cross-fit, learning Te Reo Māori and spending time with her husband, step-daughters and little boy.

Secretary

Rose Percival

Rose Percival is an experienced consultant and senior executive who has planned and led lots of programmes of organisational change. During her varied career in consulting and executive management positions she has been a member of, and chaired, a range of governance bodies. Rose has recently completed a five year term as an independent member of the Army Management Board, which she really enjoyed. Until recently, Rose was a Partner and owner of a management consulting firm, and continues to consult part-time. Her core work lately has been in governance development and facilitation, organisational reviews, and helping clients with business cases for large public sector investments.

Director

Tamara Birchall

Bio and photo to come.

Director

Lucy Halsey

Bio and photo to come.

Director

Debbie Harrison

Debbie Harrison trained and worked in the UK before moving with her family to New Zealand in 2008. She is a partner in a GP practice in Nelson and works as Lead Clinician in the Nelson SAATS service. She has been working as a MEDSAC doctor since 2011 and joined the MEDSAC board in 2020.

Director

Rachel Roskvist

Rachel Roskvist is a General Practitioner in Auckland and joined the MEDSAC board in 2019. She also works as lecturer at the University of Auckland and is part of the after hours team at Pohutukawa Clinic (the regional Auckland Adult Sexual Assault Assessment and Treatment Service). She has been working in sexual assault care since 2016.

Temporary Leave of Absence

Jessica Tucker

Jess Tucker moved from the UK to Christchurch in 2010. She is a doctor at Family Planning, and at the Christchurch SAATS. She has been a member of MEDSAC since 2012. Jess joined the MEDSAC board in 2018. In between work and being a mum, she is currently studying towards a Masters in Forensic Medicine.

Director

Beatrice Te Whata-Woods

Ko Ngāpuhi tōku iwi, Ko Ngāti Moerewa tōku hapu, Ko Beatrice Te Whata-Woods tōku ingoa.
Bea is a whaikaha and takatāpui wahine who uses the pronouns she/they. She has worked in the health system in Aotearoa for 15 years in clinical and non-clinical roles, mostly in the gynaecological space. She currently lives in Pōneke and works for Sexual Health and Tū Pakari Ora (Wellington Regional SAATS/NFSS) doing stakeholder engagement and equity mahi with agencies and services, survivors and their whānau.

Director

Loraine Witana

Bio and photo to come.

MEDSAC Board Committees

Clinical Governance Committee

  • Committee Chair: Kate Taylor (Deputy Board Chair)
  • Tamara Birchall
  • Debbie Harrison
  • Annette Milligan (Board Chair)
  • Rachel Roskvist
  • Jess Tucker - Temporary leave of absence
  • Loraine Witana
  • Paediatrician - TBC

Corporate Governance Committee

  • Committee Chair: Rose Percival
  • Julia Fink
  • Lucy Halsey
  • Annette Milligan (Board Chair)
  • Kate Taylor (Deputy Board Chair)
  • Bea Te Whata-Woods