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Stroke – devastating but preventable

A stroke often has a sudden and devastating impact on quality of life.  However, the risk factors for stroke can usually be identified before it happens, and many treatments are known to decrease the risk.

Professors Anna Ranta, a neurologist and Ralph Stewart, a cardiologist, will discuss how to identify patients who have the greatest risk of stroke, how preventive treatments lower this risk, and how to individualise treatments so they are more likely to achieve the best outcomes for each patient. 

A particular focus of the presentation will be the management of atrial fibrillation both from a neurologist’s and a cardiologist’s perspective.

Presenter

Ralph Stewart

Cardiologist

Ralph is a cardiologist at Auckland City Hospital and the Auckland Heart Group.  He is also an honorary Professor of Medicine at the University of Auckland and, until recently, chair of the National Cardiac Clinical Network.  He has a broad range of clinical and research interests related to cardiology and systems of care. 

Presenter

Anna Ranta

Academic Neurologist

Anna is a Wellington-based academic neurologist whose research focuses on stroke care optimisation and reducing health inequities.

She is the Head of Department of Medicine at University of Otago, Wellington, leads the Wellington and Central Region Stroke services, the NZ National Stroke Registry, and recently the National Stroke Clot Retrieval Service Improvement Initiative.  She is the immediate past Chair of the New Zealand National Stroke Network, the current President of the Neurological Association of New Zealand, the Treasurer of Stroke Society of Australasia, Board Member of the World Stroke Organization and Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists, and serves on the editorial boards of Stroke and Neurology.