Papaarangi is a member of Te Rarawa iwi in North Hokianga and since 2006 she has been Tumuaki (Deputy Dean – Māori) and Head of Te Kupenga Hauora Māori at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland. She is an alumnus of this university, graduating in science and medicine with post-graduate qualifications in obstetrics and community health. She is a specialist in public health medicine and a Fellow of the New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine. She was also awarded an honorary fellowship by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Papaarangi is most noted for her long-standing work holding governments to account for inequities, especially in health outcomes for Māori and other Indigenous peoples.  She believes that equity for Indigenous citizens is a symbol of government commitment to Indigenous rights. She is committed to increasing the number of Māori and Pacifica graduates in health professions and thereby changing the face of the New Zealand health workforce and improving the cultural safety of health services.

She has well over a hundred publications and is sought after internationally as a collaborator and commentator in Indigenous health and health equity. She is a member of the leadership team of Ngā Pae o Te Māramatanga, New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence. She has been a member of WHO and UNICEF Commissions and been part of other international collaborations, committees and councils. Her work has been recognised by a number of awards including being named Public Health Champion in 2007 by the New Zealand Public Health Association, two awards from Te Ohu Rata o Aotearoa, a leadership award from the LIME Network and awards for her early work in Māori tobacco control.