Josephine Herman

Josephine Aumea Herman is a Cook Islands medical doctor. She was the Secretary of Health in the Cook Islands government from June 2018 to 2021. After that she was Director of Pacific Health at Waitematā District Health Board, then Chief Clinical Advisor for Pacific Health at the Ministry of Health in New Zealand.

A doctor with a research PhD, Herman studied medicine in Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea and at the University of Auckland. In her official capacity she was responsible for coordinating the government's response to the 2019 outbreak of dengue fever on the islands. She has spoken of the need to preserve Cook Islands Māori. Herman is the aunt of the Cook Islands Secretary of Internal Affairs Anne Herman; the two were named to their department secretary roles at the same time by Prime Minister Henry Puna.