Trustees

Riripeti Haretuku, Chair

Riripeti is of Ngāpuhi, Tūhoe and Te Arawa descent. She has been actively involved in the development of Maori health for at least 20 years. Her primary aim is to ensure health interventions; services, products and health provision connect with Māori audiences and fit with community expectations and realities. In 2000 Riripeti was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to Māori Health.

Riripeti has recently joined Mauriora Associates from her position as the Quality Improvement Manager  within the  Health Sponsorship Council (HSC). She was responsible for increasing the Māori and Pacific cultural capacity of the HSC and developing their Māori and Pacific responsiveness plan.

Riripeti was the National Māori SIDS Program Coordinator/Director from 1994 to 2008, a comprehensive national health campaign to reduce sudden infant death syndrome in Māori communities, a key tutor for a Maori local Women’s Welfare League branch,  to improve the Māori truancy rates within South Auckland colleges, and a tutor at Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT), within the Māori Studies Department.

Riripeti has served two terms with Hauora.com (National Māori health workforce development)  and  is currently the chairperson. She is also  a member of the executive board of Te Whiringa Trust (National Māori community health workers collective). Riripeti has served as a committee member of the National Health Committee, Public Health Advisory Committee, and the National Breastfeeding Committee and she remains a strong advocate for Māori smokefree.

Marion Harakaia

Dr. Lorna Dyall

MSocSc Waik., MPP Well., DipComH Otago PhD

Ngati Maniapoto

Dr Lorna Dyall completed a Master in Social Science ( Honours) from the University of Waikato in the late 1970s and on completion of her degree became involved in improving the health and wellbeing of Maori. Her first employed position was as a social worker at the Tauranga Hospital in the later 1970s and then as a research assistant with the Maori Women’s Welfare League involved in the study Rapuora Health and Maori Women.

Experience as a research assistant and interest in health led her being employed by the Department of Health in the 1980s, leading the development and co-ordination of Maori health policy. Dr Dyall has had experienced in working in a number of different public sector agencies such as Wellington Area Health Board, Te Puni Kokiri and the Accident Compensation Corporation.

Dr Dyall has wide interests in the health sector and has been involved in the development of many health and research initiatives in New Zealand. She has been a member of the Health Research Committee Maori Health Committee in the 1990s helped developed a Maori strategic research strategy and business plan. Her research interests has been varied but a strong focus has been on the improvement and development of health services for Maori to support Maori aspirations for self determination and improved health outcomes. In the 1990s she completed a Master’s degree in public policy from Victoria University and a Diploma of Community Health from the University of Otago.

In the late 1990s Dr Dyall joined the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences began her PhD investigating is problem gambling and emerging public health interest for Maori. This research has supported the development of a public health approach to reduce gambling related harm acknowledging that problem gambling affects all areas of Maori life and wellbeing and significantly impacts on the health of children. New research interests at present cover the health of children, the health of older Maori, improving Maori access and outcomes from health services and reducing injuries and trauma for Maori in many different settings.

Dr Lorna Dyall is currently a Senior Lecturer at Te Kupenga Hauora Maori the Division of Maori Health, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Auckland University and is involved in teaching at an undergraduate and postgraduate level and research focused on improving Maori health and wellbeing.

Dr Nicole Coupe (Nik)

Takitimu te Waka,
Aoraki te Mauka,
Waitaki te Awa,
Moeraki te Marae
Teitei te tupuna
Kai Tahu ratou ko Te Atiawa, Ngati Toa, Ngati Rangitane oku Iwi

Education
PhD (Massey University) Whakamomori: Maori Suicide Prevention
MSc (Auckland University) – Biostatistics
BSc (Auckland University) – Zoology
Post Grad Dip Maori Development – Hauora (COP)
Post Grad Dip Public Health – Epidemiology / Biostatistics
Work History
Hapai Te Hauora Tapui Limited – Chief Executive Officer (Current)
Ministry of Health (National Health Board) – Infrastructure Manager (Public Health Group)
University of Auckland (Faculty of Medical & Health Sciences) – Study Manager Te Ira Tangata
Massey University – Post Doctoral Fellow
University of Auckland – Director Tomaiora
Life History
Director of Kereru Research Evaluation & Development Ltd
Mother to Richard and Javaughn