Our Matariki celebration was a wonderful event, where our FMHS whanau and guests were treated to a beautiful celebration of culture.

My warmest congratulations to our Tumuaki, Papaarangi Reid and Ursula McIntyre for organising another enjoyable evening.

Guest speaker Pio Terei spoke passionately about Trust Teina, calling for young people, especially those with Pacific ancestry to register as blood donors. This will help increase the chances of New Zealand leukaemia patients receiving a life-saving blood transplant.

Visit the New Zealand Blood Service to find out how you can help.

Last Thursday, senior members of the faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences from the University of Auckland and Otago met with ministry officials in Wellington to discuss a combined National School of Rural Health (SRH).

The proposal is the culmination of a great deal of work between the two medical universities, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Rural GPs Network to offer an education and training solution that in part addresses our shortage of rural health professionals.

A strength of the proposal is that it would provide rural immersion training for up to 1,000  medical and allied health students a year. The SRH would be located in a collection of “hubs” across rural New Zealand and would also provide opportunities for postgraduate and vocational training.

IRIS, the research administrative review is underway across the university, and the faculty is currently at the first stage of reviewing how we can enhance administrative support across the broad research continuum of the faculty.

The business case for a new building on the Grafton campus to house staff vacating the Tamaki campus is nearing completion. We expect to submit this case to Council by the end of July. I hope to be able to provide detail to faculty about what is proposed, as soon as the business case is approved.

Professor Paul Donaldson has been confirmed for a second term as the Head of School of Medical Sciences.  Paul has been an efficient and supportive Head of School during his first term, and I wish to congratulate him on his uncontested re-appointment.