Public Health Action – Directors

Dr Carol Shand CNZM, MBChB, FRNZCGP, FAChSHM

Dr Shand has long-term experience in management, administration and delivery of General Practice. She recently retired after working since 1964 as a General Practitioner in private practice in the Wellington area. Dr Shand has broad experience in areas of sexual health medicine, and care of adolescents in general practice. In 2008 she was made a Companion of the New Zealand order of Merit for services to women’s health.

Mr Ian Powell MA, Dip. Indust. Rel.

Ian Powell was Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, the professional union representing senior doctors and dentists in New Zealand, for over 30 years, until December 2019. He is now a health systems, labour market, and political commentator living in the small river estuary community of Otaihanga (the place by the tide). Ian publishes regularly on health system issues including the blog Otaihanga Second Opinion https://otaihangasecondopinion.wordpress.com

Dr Karl Geiringer MBCHB, MSc

Karl is a practicing GP. He trained in clinical medicine at Otago University from 2010-2014 and entered the GP training programme of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practice in 2016. From 2001-2004 he served as a publicly elected director of Capital and Coast District Health Board.  

Karl began his career as an independent filmmaker producing documentary films on health and environmental topics, including nuclear disarmament and rural health. From 1996-1998 he worked as a science journalist for the publisher Elsevier Science. In 1999, Karl returned to New Zealand to found the biotechnology company Photonz Corporation. From 2004-2010, he undertook postgraduate studies in biological science at the Universities of Auckland and Oxford.