Ngā Tāngata / Our team will support you through your healthy heart journey and connect you to support services.
Nurse Specialist
Patumahoe Leaf-Wright
Cardiology Clinical Nurse Specialist
Patu was inspired to take a role in the programme after working within the hospital caring for acutely unwell patients. Patu has always been passionate about caring for Māori patients and whānau and wants to be part of a solution that will help reduce the need for hospital care. Ultimately, Patu would like for Māori whānau to feel empowered about their health and thrive for their uri whakatipu.
Cardiologists
Dr Rajesh Nair
Head of Cardiology Department at Waikato Hospital, and Chair of Te Manawa Taki (Midland) Cardiac Network
Dr Rajesh Nair, has seen major systemic issues relating to Māori heart health care and was motivated to develop Hāpaitia te Hauora Manawa, a targeted community programme with specialist level care for Māori. He hopes that Hāpaitia te Hauora Manawa will continue to evolve so that ultimately we can serve all Māori across Aotearoa
Dr Micaela Molinero
Cardiology Consultant
Dr. Molinero is a cardiology consultant trained in Argentina; with further advanced training for 3 years at the University of Toronto, completing a Fellowship in Advanced Heart Failure, Mechanical Circulatory Support and Cardiac Transplantation, followed by a Fellowship in Echocardiography. She is the current clinical lead for Heart Failure at Waikato DHB. She is inspired by the hard work patients put into getting better and how brave they are to face challenging disease
Specialist Echocardiographer
Mathew Varghese BSE Dip CVT BSc
Specialist Echocardiographer
Mathew is a BSE accredited Specialist Echocardiographer with over ten years of active adult scanning experience in New Zealand and overseas. Prior to that he worked in invasive cardiology (Cath Lab) as a Cardiac Physiologist in senior and chief roles in the UK, UAE and India, after graduating with a Cardiovascular Technology degree from Manipal University, India in 2000.
Mathew obtained a British Society of Echocardiography (BSE) accreditation in adult TTE in 2011, having successfully completed specialist echocardiography training in Essex Cardio-thoracic Centre (BTUH NHS) in the UK.
Mathew has been working as Specialist Echocardiographer at Waikato Hospital since moving to New Zealand in January 2013.
