Cardiac National Clinical Network

Lia is a nurse practitioner with significant experience in primary, hospital and palliative care.

She currently practises in the cardiology service at Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora – Te Pae Hauora o Ruahine o Tararua | MidCentral where she is responsible for the assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, coordination and evaluation of care for people with cardiac disorders.

Her role includes facilitating care for patients and their whānau across the care continuum including improving access to primary, secondary and palliative services. She also supports those providing health services, by mentoring registered nurses who are on a pathway to undertake or complete post graduate study.

Lia, who has a Master of Nursing from Massey University, is passionate about improving health outcomes for people and has a particular interest in supporting equity and access to health services for Māori.

Lia’s approach to nursing is influenced through both her worked and lived experience, as a Māori accessing health services.

She has a strong commitment to quality and service improvement. She completed a term as co-chair of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand Heart Failure Working Group.

She is the current palliative care interface cardiology representative and is involved with the integration of cardiology specialist services within primary care.

Cara is a respected cardiologist and the current Service Clinical Director of the Te Toka Tumai Auckland Cardiology Department.

Cara brings a unique lens to clinical leadership, equity and access to health services in New Zealand having grown up living off the grid in the Coromandel.

Cara completed medical school in Auckland before moving on to cardiology training at Greenlane Hospital. She then spent two years as a research and transplant fellow in Auckland before undertaking a transplant and heart failure fellowship in Vancouver, Canada.

Now a fellow of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, Cara’s work as a cardiologist has covered the breadth of general cardiology, with particular expertise in advanced heart failure management and transplant.

Throughout her career, Cara has focused on making systems and services better and has a good understanding of how improving process leads to better experiences and outcomes for patients.

Cara aims to always enable those around her to stretch to their maximum professional potential and firmly believes in the strength of people working together to bring about positive change.

She is passionate about the opportunity to improve equitable access to excellent cardiac care across the whole country and contribute to better healthcare for all New Zealanders.