Rita Krishnamurthi

Rita V. Krishnamurthi is a New Zealand academic, and since 2023 is a full professor at the Auckland University of Technology, specialising in the epidemiology of stroke and dementia.

Academic career
Krishnamurthi completed a PhD titled Treatment Effects of the N-terminal tripeptide of insulin-like growth factor-1, GPE, in a Rat Model of Parkinson’s Disease at the University of Auckland in 2006. Krishnamurthi then moved to Auckland University of Technology, rising to full professor in 2023. Her research covers the epidemiology and prevention of stroke and dementia. She is deputy director of the National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neurosciences.

Krishnamurthi participates in a number of large international studies. She is a member of the stroke expert panel in the Global Burden of Disease Study, and is part of the PRIME International Study and the Personalized Knowledge to Reduce Stroke Risk study.

Awards and honours
In 2021 Krishnamurthi was a World Stroke Organization "Women in Stroke" nominee, an initiative aimed at highlighting "outstanding women working in stroke medicine, stroke research and stroke advocacy".

Krishnamurthi was a co-investigator in the National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neurosciences, led by Valery Feigin, that won the Te Pūiaki Putaiao Matua a te Pirimia Science Prize in the 2022 Prime Minister's Science Prizes. The $500,000 prize is awarded to "an individual or team for a transformative scientific discovery or achievement, which has had a significant economic, health, social and/or environmental impact on New Zealand and/or internationally".