Riana Manuel (born 1972/1973) is a New Zealand nurse, healthcare manager and chief executive of the MÃÂori Health Authority which came into being in July 2022 and was disestablished in 2024.
Manuel is of NgÃÂti Pukenga, NgÃÂti Maru and NgÃÂti Kahungunu descent. She grew up in Manaia, Coromandel the daughter of a nurse and an ambulance driver; her brother is a doctor. Her mother set up a rest home and small hospital in Coromandel. As a teenager she went to a MÃÂori boarding school where only the MÃÂori language was spoken (known as full immersion).
Manuel is a registered nurse and has based her career in community and MÃÂori healthcare. She was nurse director at Waikato District Health Board and chief executive officer of Hauraki Primary Health Organisation and Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki, a rural iwi based health provider in the Hauraki area. While Te Korowai services have a MÃÂori focus only about half of its patients were MÃÂori, and its approach achieved better outcomes for all patients.
In December 2021 she was appointed chief executive of the interim MÃÂori Health Authority. Her aim was to ensure that people in both rural and urban areas have services appropriate to their communities, rather than applying a universal approach to healthcare. The Authority was disestablished by the government in 2024.