Rita is a New Zealand trained plastic and reconstructive surgeon who subspecialises in breast cancer reconstruction and gender affirmation surgeries. After qualifying as a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeon, Rita undertook gender fellowships in Bangkok, Gent, Amsterdam and Belgrade. In 2019, Rita was contracted by NZ Ministry of Health to provide gender affirming genital surgeries to a long waitlist of patients., thanks to an injection of funding from Health NZ 2018 budget. This leads to the setting up in 2020 of the current Te Whatu Ora Gender Affirming Genital Surgical Service (GAgSS). GAgSS development and service delivery is informed by its multidisciplinary team, made up of clinicians from different sectors of trans healthcare. Currently Rita is the only specialist provider of genital affirmation surgeries in NZ. The GAgSS surgical team is based in Wakefield Hospital, Wellington.

Shivani Pasricha is a microbiologist and team leader at the University of Melbourne, Doherty Institute. Her team utilises advanced molecular and genomic approaches to improve the detection, prevention, and surveillance of STIs. Bridging laboratory innovation with real-world clinical applications, Shivani is leading the development and evaluation of CRISPR-based point-of-care diagnostics for STIs.