Kō au he mokopuna ō Te Tai Tokerau

Kō Ngāti Hine kō Te Aupōuri kō Te Rarawa kō Ngāti Hau ki Whangarei kō Ngāpuhi nui tonu ngā hapū whānau 

Kō Ricky Bell tōku ingoa

Ricky (ia/he/him) initially trained as a physiotherapist with almost thirty years in various clinical roles. Over the last decade his interests have diversified to include specialist research, allied health leadership, governance, tertiary teaching, workforce development, regulatory and advocacy roles. He has contributed to or led three of the four physiotherapy programmes currently in Aotearoa, at the University of Otago, Auckland University of Technology and Wintec. With the support of whānau, he was honoured to be the first Māori to be awarded a PhD from the School of Physiotherapy at the University of Otago in 2018. He is a strong believer in success enabling success, with aspirations to build on the privileges afforded to him and facilitate others on similar and newer pathways.

While he has extensive experience across our hauora and education systems, as a clinician he has worked with many professional athletes and teams in Australia including the Brisbane Bullets Basketball team, Brisbane Broncos RLFC and he was the official team physiotherapist for the Queensland Under 19 Women’s Netball team from 1996 to 2001. He was also the team physio for Te Rarawa Rugby Football Club in the Far North Mangonui comp for over a decade and, more recently, the Waiuku Rugby Football Club. Giving back to our local communities, remaining connected to the coalface of what we do and further enabling whānau is important to him.