Let’s celebrate! Some of the happy attendees at the Otago Medical School 150th anniversary commemorations. Photo: Clive Copeman Photography
“It’s a bit of a magic place in lots of ways.”
That alumna comment was a sentiment echoed by many of the graduates who attended the Otago Medical School, Te Kura Hauora o Ōtākou 150th anniversary celebrations at King’s Birthday weekend.
Read about the kākahu (cloak) unveiled during the OMS 150th celebrations.
More than 300 alumni, staff, students and guests from across Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia and the United States, gathered at the Dunedin campus from 29 May to 1 June to celebrate the many years of clinical training, research and innovation across the School’s three campuses – Ōtepoti Dunedin, Ōtautahi Christchurch and Pōneke Wellington.
The commemorations were a chance for alumni to reflect on their student experiences and the top-class education that propelled them into successful medical and research careers around the world.
Participants relished the chance to reconnect with classmates, colleagues and staff, to learn more about the School’s history and achievements, and progress in areas such as equity, and to discuss future challenges and opportunities, such as the role of AI.
OMS Dean Professor Suzanne Pitama was delighted with how the commemorations had gone, saying it was a privilege to be part of such a special time for the School. She thanked all those involved in organising the events for their hard work and dedication.
“It was beautiful to witness our current staff and students share their research and teaching initiatives, updating our alumni and showing how we are building on the legacy they helped create. I’m deeply grateful to see the months of planning come to life in a celebration where every talk, activity, and event reflected the values that unite us as a medical school,” she says.
OMS 150th Committee Chair Emerita Professor Dawn Elder says it was great to see people engaged with the School’s past, present and future, and to feel a strong connection with it.
“This was a celebration of not just our alumni over 150 years, but also the staff who laid the foundations of excellence in teaching and research that we celebrate in 2025. It was wonderful to have some of our professional staff, both current and past, attend. Without them none of the legacy that we celebrated over this weekend event would have been possible.”
Clockwise from top left: A major milestone… (from left) Dean and Head of Campus, University of Otago, Christchurch, Professor Lutz Beckert; OMS Dean Professor Suzanne Pitama; Dean and Head of Campus, University of Otago, Wellington, Professor William Levack; OMS 150th Committee Chair Emerita Professor Dawn Elder and Dunedin School of Medicine Dean Professor Suetonia Green - the kākahu (cloak) to the right was unveiled during the celebrations; students Amelia Mance, Thomas Simpson and Johnny Janetto confer during the staff versus student debate; (from left) retired OMS Manager Bruce Smith, Suzanne Pitama, Chair of Central Otago Health Services Richard Thomson, Health Sciences Pro-Vice-Chancellor Associate Professor Megan Gibbons and Professor Tim Wilkinson; an appreciative audience.
The varied programme included history and current research and teaching presentations, panel discussions, research displays, tours, social events and a staff versus student debate. Popular topics were key achievements over the past 150 years, reflections on medical education and our academic role as critic and conscience of society.
As Chair of the critic and conscience session, Professor Sir David Skegg, a former Vice-Chancellor of Otago, summed up the School’s significant impact.
“I think we can be proud that over the last 150 years our medical school has had many staff and graduates who’ve improved our society by speaking out on issues affecting the health of the people.”
Speaking at the gala dinner, Vice-Chancellor Grant Robertson discussed the connection between politics and medicine in Aotearoa, especially in relation to the OMS.
He said the OMS, School of Biomedical Sciences and the wider Health Sciences have made an enormous contribution to our society, economy and environment. The University needs to continue to look at how it can help solve global problems such as chronic disease, climate change and poverty, and how to further reduce health inequities and honour Te Tiriti.
“We need to continue to be a nationwide medical school that is working from the Far North to the deep South, ngā hau e whā, to provide training, support and hope.”
Director of the Development and Alumni Relations Office, Shelagh Murray, says it was wonderful to see so many alumni reconnecting with old friends and teachers, and revisiting their student days.
“It was just brilliant seeing how much everyone was enjoying being back on campus and back in Dunedin, there was a really festive feeling over the whole anniversary weekend,” Shelagh says.
“Whoever you talked to, it was clear Otago holds a special place in their lives, and it was wonderful to be able to celebrate that at the 150th.”
Shelagh thanked the sponsors for their support in helping to create a memorable weekend, and all the staff and medical students who worked so hard to make the 150th celebrations such a success.
The sponsors and partners were the Medical Assurance Society, the Medical Protection Society, the New Zealand Medical Education Trust, the Otago Medical Research Foundation, the Otago Medical School Alumni Association and the University Book Shop.
Kōrero by Andrea Jones, Team Leader, Divisional Communications and Margie Clark, Communications Adviser, Development and Alumni Office
Gala dinner and full conference group and decade/campus group photos: Clive Copeman Photography