Dr Elizabeth Ryan is a proud Māori doctor Of Ngāti Porou Heritage. 

I come from a rural farming and fishing background and was raised in Coromandel in Flaxmill Bay Whitianga and the Deep South of Otautau Southland before heading to the University of Otago in Dunedin to study medicine. I Have been in general practice since 2012 after finishing 3 years at Whangarei Hospital in various specialties. I hold fellowship with the Royal College of GPs as well as a post graduate Certificate in Womens health. 

General Practice is all about people.  My role is not only to diagnose and treat but also to educate and support my patients to be able to take the best care of themselves and their wider whanau. I am a general practitioner because my interest in medicine is broad from Peadiatrics, Menopause, Skin, and Diabetes, to Men’s Health there is always more to learn, and I love to learn it. Medicine is always changing, and it is important to be flexible in my approach to what is the best care and treatment for my patients and the community we care for.  

I love travel which is lucky because my husband John is Irish which brings us back nearly every year to the Ireland to maintain whanau connections – including a 4-year stint in Ireland where I worked in General practice, Lifestyle and Preventive medicine. I returned to New Zealand in August 2022, and we bought a beautiful lifestyle block in Kauri to have chickens and flowers and space for my 3 children to grow up. 

To be a GP where you care for people for many years is absolute privilege, and i will always be thankful for little 6-year-old me who dreamed of being a doctor because i loved science and people.”