Annemarei Ranta is a New Zealand academic neurologist, and is a full professor at the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

, specialising in

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

care.

Academic career

Ranta was born in Germany. She obtained her medical degree from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

, and also has a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and biology from St Mary's College of Maryland. She moved to New Zealand in 2007, where she was initially a consultant neurologist and lead stroke physician at the MidCentral District Health Board. Ranta completed a postgraduate certificate in public health at

Massey University Massey University () is a Public university, public research university in New Zealand that provides internal and distance education. The university has campuses in Auckland, Palmerston North, and Wellington. Data from Universities New Zealand ...

in 2010, and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

titled ''Transient Ischaemic Attack and Stroke Electronic Decision Support to Improve Stroke Care in New Zealand'' at the

. Ranta was appointed associate professor at Otago in 2017, and full professor in 2021. As of 2024, she is head of the Department of Medicine at the University of Otago's Wellington campus. Ranta's research is focused on stroke care and the development of interventions to improve stroke care. Ranta led Health Research Council-funded research that showed significant variations in stroke care across New Zealand, for instances some patients received follow-up care within 1–2 weeks while others waited up to five months. There were also differences in care received by Māori and Pacific patients. Ranta has worked on decreasing such inequities in stroke care, leading the development of tools such as electronic decision support tools for stroke prevention, for use by GPs, and ways to improve access to stroke specialists from rural healthcare services. Ranta leads the New Zealand National Stroke Registry and Stroke Strategy. Ranta is a on the boards of the World Stroke Organisation and the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists. She has been President of the Neurological Association of New Zealand. She is on several editorial boards, including those of ''

Stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

'' and ''

Neurology Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine) , medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous syst ...

''.

Selected works

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References

External links

''Do different folks have different strokes? An unexpected journey''
Inaugural professorial lecture by Anna Ranta, 17 August 2021 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ranta, Annemarei Year of birth missing (living people) Living people New Zealand academics New Zealand women academics Pennsylvania State University alumni St. Mary's College of Maryland alumni Massey University alumni University of Otago alumni New Zealand neurologists German emigrants to New Zealand