Ayesha Jennifer Verrall (/ˈaɪʃə/ EYE-shə;[1] born 1979[2][3]) is a New Zealand politician, infectious-diseases physician and researcher with expertise in tuberculosis and international health.

Her mother was born in the Maldives and was the first Maldivian to pass Cambridge examinations in English and study in New Zealand on a Colombo Plan scholarship.

[8] During the next decade, Verrall trained in tropical medicine, bioethics and international health in the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Peru.

Her research investigated the early clearance immune response to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection among Indonesian people who were highly exposed to the bacteria yet remained uninfected.

[13] Before entering national politics, Verrall was a senior lecturer at the University of Otago in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine.

[21][22] It concluded that although the quality of contact tracing was good, the health sector was "understaffed and lacked cohesion," relied on slow, manual processes and hard to scale up.

Verrall was ranked 17th as a list-only candidate, the highest-ranked newcomer, positioned behind Cabinet ministers and the Speaker but ahead of other sitting MPs.

[28][29][30] With that winnable position, she was immediately identified as a future health minister (David Clark, who had held that office since 2017, had been recently demoted amid several scandals).

As part of the plan, the Government introduced legislation banning anyone under the age of 14 from legally purchasing tobacco for the rest of their lives.

"[45] During the 2023 New Zealand general election held on 14 October, Verrall was re-elected to Parliament on the Labour Party list.

[47] On 5 December 2023, Verrall was granted retention of the title The Honourable, in recognition of her term as a member of the Executive Council.