Maori medical students and their friends and family at a pre-graduation event at the University of Otago Union Hall yesterday. Photos: Peter McIntosh.

The largest number of Maori medical graduands in New Zealand’s history will graduate from the University of Otago today.

The 45 Maori students will become doctors at 1pm.

Te Kahui Tapsell, of Tauranga, will be among those to swap the title of student for doctor.

Miss Tapsell, of Te Arawa and Tainui descent and distantly related to the first Maori speaker of the House, Sir Peter Tapsell, said she was "really proud" of the cohort.

"It is an amazing achievement by the students and also by the university to have supported us through it."

Te Kahui Tapsell (23) is one of 45 Maori medical students to graduate as doctors today.

The cohort was more than twice the size of those in previous years, she said.

"I don’t think we really appreciated at the time how big we were.

"The Maori department kept on saying how big we were but now, six years on, I feel really privileged to be part of this group."

The bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery graduate moved from Dunedin three years ago and completed her training in Wellington and Hawke’s Bay.

At present she was working at Tauranga Hospital, where her whakapapa was continuing to influence her approach to life and healthcare.

"Being Maori does change how you practise.

"It is about being more holistic."

Her cultural identity changed the way she treated not only Maori patients, but "everyone".

She was particularly interested in women’s and Maori mental health and hoped to specialise in these areas in Tauranga.

"My community are really important to me and I am close to my marae.

"They supported me through med school and life and I want to give something back."

A change in the mind-set of young Maori and increased support from the Maori department were the reasons so many Maori were studying medicine.

"There is nothing that is off-limits to us and there are amazing people that have gone before us to blaze that trail."

University of Otago associate Maori dean Joanne Baxter said it was the first time Maori representation in the total number of medical graduates equated to the proportion of Maori in the New Zealand population.

Te Rangi Hiroa graduated from the University of Otago in 1904, the first Maori doctor to do so from a New Zealand university.

margot.taylor@odt.co.nz