The following is a list of notable medical doctors from New Zealand.
The University of Otago is a public research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in Oceania.
Sir Harold Delf Gillies was a New Zealand otolaryngologist and father of modern plastic surgery for the techniques he devised to repair the faces of soldiers coming back from the trenches.
The Dunedin School of Medicine is the name of the School of Medicine that is based on the Dunedin campus of the University of Otago. All University of Otago medical students who gain entry after the competitive Health Sciences First Year program, or who gain graduate entry, spend their second and third years studying at the Otago Medical School in Dunedin. In their fourth, fifth, and sixth years, students can either study at the Dunedin School of Medicine (Dunedin), the University of Otago, Christchurch, or the University of Otago, Wellington.
Alice Mary Bush was a pioneering New Zealand female physician, paediatrician and activist for family planning services and abortion access.
St Thomas's Hospital Medical School in London was one of the oldest and most prestigious medical schools in the UK. The school was absorbed to form part of GKT School of Medical Education.
Middlemore Hospital is a major public hospital in the suburb of Ōtāhuhu, Auckland, New Zealand. The hospital has approximately 800 beds. There are 24 operating theatres across two sites.
David Francis Gerrard is a sports administrator, sports medicine specialist, and former Olympic Games swimming representative from New Zealand.
University of Otago Faculty of Dentistry is one of the faculties of the University of Otago.
Sir Randal Forbes Elliott was a New Zealand eye surgeon and a campaigner for safety glass.
Sir Edward George Sayers was a New Zealand medical doctor, parasitologist, Methodist missionary, military medical administrator, consultant physician and, from 1958 to 1968, Dean of the University of Otago, School of Medicine. Having trained as a doctor, from 1927 to 1934 he worked at the Methodist mission in the Solomon Islands where he carried out fieldwork in the treatment of malaria. The significance of this work became apparent when Sayers used his knowledge to reduce deaths of American, Australia and New Zealand military forces during the invasion of Pacific Islands during World War II. He served as a doctor with the 2nd Division 2 NZEF during 1941–42 in Greece and North Africa. In 1942 he was transferred to the Pacific to serve with the 3rd Division, 2 NZEF IP.
Dame Cecily Mary Wise Pickerill was a New Zealand plastic surgeon who specialised in treating infants with cleft palates and other conditions needing plastic surgery. She successfully demonstrated that care of hospitalised infants by their mothers prevented infections.
Henry Percy Pickerill (1879–1956) was a British-born New Zealand dental surgeon and researcher, university administrator and plastic surgeon. Pickerill made major contributions to several fields of dentistry and plastic surgery both in New Zealand and overseas.
Eily Elaine Gurr was a New Zealand medical doctor and medical administrator and advocate of the discipline of general practice.
Muriel Helen Deem was a New Zealand medical doctor, medical officer, Plunket medical adviser and university lecturer.
Thomas Vianney O'Donnell was a New Zealand medical practitioner and academic.
James Michael Watt was a New Zealand rugby union player and medical academic. He was New Zealand's first professor of paediatrics, appointed at the University of Otago in 1967.
Sir Neil Colquhoun Begg was a New Zealand paediatrician, historian and cricketer. He played three first-class matches for the Otago cricket team after the beginning of World War II, but he is most noted as a paediatrician and an historian. He served as director of medical services for the Plunket Society from 1956 to 1977, and, with his brother Charles, wrote four books on the history of Fiordland. He chaired the New Zealand Historic Places Trust between 1978 and 1986.
Arthur Rainsford Mowlem (1902–1986), born in New Zealand, was the youngest of the four plastic surgeons who practised in between the world wars in Britain. In 1936, he joined the London-based partnership that was started by Sir Harold Gillies and included Sir Archibald McIndoe and Thomas Pomfret Kilner. He continued to practise until his retirement in 1963. During the Second World War he was involved in early bone grafting and took part in early trials for penicillin at his unit in Hill End Hospital, St Albans.
John Rutherford Ryley was an Australian surgeon who studied medicine in Glasgow, where he learned about Listerian antisepsis from Joseph Lister. He emigrated to New Zealand and introduced antiseptic surgery there in January 1868. Most of his career was then spent in Australia. He killed himself at the age of 46.
Brigadier Brian Thomas McMahon is a retired New Zealand Defence Force officer. He worked as a venereologist before joining the Defence Force and served in the Vietnam War from 1969 to 1970. He also served in the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Singapore. From 1980 to 1983, he was director-general of Defence Force Medical Services. After retiring from the Defence Force, McMahon worked as medical superintendent of the Wakari Hospital and then Dunedin Hospital. In retirement he has carried out charity work, particularly in relation to leprosy. He was given the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association ANZAC of the Year Award in 2011.
