Members

Ria Earp (Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Pikiao)

Ria is the Chair of Te Kāhui Piringa for the Health Quality & Safety Commission. Te Kāhui Piringa provides strategic advice to the chief executive and Board on Māori issues for the Commission.

Ria has extensive experience in leadership as chief executive and senior manager in the health sector. She retired from Mary Potter Hospice (in Wellington) late 2017 where she had held the position of chief executive for eleven years. Prior to taking up the role in Mary Potter Hospice, Ria was the Deputy Director General, Māori Health for the Ministry of Health for nine years. This followed a long career as a senior manager in the public service across a range of portfolios.

Ria has established a consultancy that has a focus on health and social development policy, design and implementation. She is the current Chair of Te Rōpū Taki Māori, the Māori advisory group for Hospice New Zealand and was recently appointed as Advisor, Māori services at Hospice New Zealand.

Ria’s BA major was Anthropology and she has completed a MA (Applied, Social Work) and Masters of Business Administration. Ria has a deep interest in Māori community development.

Dr Fiona Cram (Ngāti Pāhauwera)

 Fiona is the chair of Ngā Pou Arawhenua and the Family Violence Death Review Committee. She has tribal affiliations to Ngāti Pāhauwera on the east coast of Aotearoa. She has a background in social and developmental psychology and 25 years experience in research and evaluation in the fields of corrections and justice, with a specific interest in the impacts of intimate partner violence (IPV) on women and their children. Fiona has been involved in the evaluation assessment of both community and government directed responses to Māori IPV and has an in-depth understanding of the determinants of Māori health and wellbeing. An over-riding theme in Fiona’s work is kaupapa Māori (by Māori, for Māori).

Sue Crengle (Waitaha, Kāti Mamoe and Kāi Tahu)

Sue Crengle obtained her medical, masters of public health, and PhD degrees from the University of Auckland. She holds specialty qualifications in general practice and public health medicine. Sue was a recipient of a Harkness Fellowship in Health Policy 1999–2000.

Her research interests include inequities in health, health services research, quality of care and youth health.

Sue works as a GP in Invercargill one day a week and is Associate Professor Hauora Māori in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, Dunedin for the rest of the week.

Marama Parore (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāpuhi)

Marama Parore has been a member of Te Kāhui Piringa since March 2014. She has a background in community nursing, teaching, training and management.

She has worked in the health sector for over 20 years in a range of government and non-government organisations including the Public Health Commission, Plunket, the Central Regional Health Authority and the Health Funding Authority. She most recently worked as the general manager for PHARMAC, the New Zealand pharmaceutical management agency and was CEO for Te Rau Matatini. Marama now runs a consultancy company M.I.H.I (Make it Happen International).

Marama has four children and 10 mokopuna who love to keep their nani ma busy. In her spare time she enjoys tramping and mountain climbing; she counts her summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro as a highlight.

Muriel Tunoho (Ngāti Raukawa)

Muriel Tunoho is the chairperson for Hutt Union & Community Health Service (HUCHS) – a community-owned health service located in Pomare and Petone.

She has an extensive background in primary health, community development and governance. She is also a leader in the Living Wage Movement and E tū union, working together to lift low pay and strive for a fairer and civil society in Aotearoa.

Muriel is a descendent of Ngati Raukawa and she has two sons and three young grandchildren.

She became a HUCHS patient when it was first established because it offered low cost fees and patients were valued for contributing to improve service delivery, rather than being powerless recipients of the health service. This confidence, lead her to encourage four generations of her extended whanau to enroll with HUCHS too.

Muriel now convenes HUCHS' Patient Advisory Group, Te Kete Hauora and she has been inspired by patients who are driving change to improve HUCHS' service delivery by whanau with diabetes including co-designing a successful 12 week exercise programme in their community.

Prof Denise Wilson (Ngāti Tahinga (Tainui))

Denise is professor of Māori health and director of Taupua Waiora Centre for Māori Health Research at the Auckland University of Technology. Her research and publication activities are focused on Māori/indigenous health, family violence, cultural safety and health (particularly Māori) workforce development.

Denise has been involved in family violence research and development of the Ministry of Health’s Violence Intervention Programme. She is a member of the Health Quality & Safety Commission’s Family Violence Death Review Committee and has been a member of Te Kāhui Piringa since February 2012.

She is a co-author of The People’s Report: The People’s Inquiry into Addressing Child Abuse and Domestic Violence. She is a fellow of the College of Nurses Aotearoa (NZ) and Te Mata o te Tau (Academy of Māori Research & Scholarship), the editor-in-chief of Nursing Praxis in New Zealand, on the Editorial Board of Contemporary Nurse, and has been appointed to the Health Research Council of New Zealand’s College of Experts.

Wikepa Keelan (Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau a Rongomai Wāhine) 

Wikepa (Wi) Keelan has a long history of working in the health and disability services. He recently retired from full-time employment with the Ministry of Health where he held the positions of chief advisor Māori health and national Māori programme manager for over a decade. More recently he works part-time for the Health Quality & Safety Commission as a kaumātua and cultural advisor. He performs similar roles for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and the Ministry of Health. 

Commission team

The Commission employs a team which supports Te Kāhui Piringa and ensures the objectives outlined in Te Whai Oranga are implemented. 

For any inquiries about Te Kāhui Piringa please email info@hqsc.govt.nz.