Varaidzo (Vee) Mapunde is a Co Director at Accelerated Surgical Care HealthTech Research Centre. Colleagues describe them as "Vee is an absolute pleasure to work with. She is capable, conscientiously and considerately so, which means she is an effective manager and team player. She goes above and beyond for those she works with and has supported our journey when others have not. I fully recommend Vee as I believe she has talents that Diverse Directors Programme can take to the next level. I do hope Vee can be supported, as she has supported others with grace, and is given this opportunity to further her career to only help more people. We need more people like Vee in Director roles. " and "I truly value my time working alongside Vee within the NIHR MIC national network and I admire her leadership and vision. Vee is incredibly knowledgeable and collaborative - and generous with her time! We've worked together on joint organisational projects (I'm forever grateful for her time contributing to an educational platform I was developing for healthcare scientist innovators) and knowledge exchange. She's fabulous!"