A reunion of Otago’s medical school Class of ’79 held on the Wellington campus in October gave the first group of students to complete their study in the capital city the chance to return to their old haunts.
The graduating class of 1979 was the first to be able to complete their fourth, fifth and sixth years of medical school on one of three University campuses, Dunedin, Christchurch or Wellington.
For those who studied in Wellington, the reunion gave them the opportunity to catch up with old friends in the Nordmeyer Lecture Theatre where they attended some of their first lectures.
Reunion organiser, retired Wellington anaesthetist Dr Graham Sharpe, says “those of my group who came through Wellington were there when the clinical school opened – it was fantastic, with a new library and lecture theatres, it was great”.
The event was held over the weekend of Friday 18 October to Sunday 20 October, with 108 people, including graduates’ partners, attending.
Dr Sharpe says the biggest highlight was simply spending time together and being able to catch up.
Professor William Levack (left) with Dr Graham Sharpe at the reunion.
The weekend started with a parliamentary reception on the Friday evening, hosted by the MP for Ōhāriu, Greg O’Connor. On Saturday, the group was welcomed onto the Wellington campus by Dean and Head of Campus Professor William Levack. They then listened to a series of talks from former classmates about their work, including from Dr Jan Swinnen, now retired, who worked as a volunteer surgeon with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in global hotspots, such as Gaza, Afghanistan and Yemen.
The president of the Wellington Health Professional Students Association (WHPSA), Wellington Trainee Intern Georgia Hoggarth, also spoke to the group. She was met with laughter when she introduced her talk with the words, “1979: Another Brick in the Wall, Pink Floyd”.
Since 2005, the alumni from the Class of ’79 have been funding scholarships for second and third-year undergraduate medical students experiencing financial hardship.
One former recipient, Dr Melissa Dol, now a senior house officer in the Wellington Hospital Emergency Department, spoke to alumni at the reunion about the difference the scholarship had made to her life.
Scholarship recipient Dr Melissa Dol speaks to alumni.
Two other scholarship recipients, Dr Timoti Te Moke, now a house surgeon at Middlemore Hospital, and Dr Ari Pfeiffenberger, now a GP in Wellington, were unable to attend in person, but sent messages of appreciation.
The class of ’79 has been the most active of the med school classes in holding regular reunions and have already picked Dunedin as the site of their 50th reunion.
Dr Sharpe remembers they last met in Wellington 20 years ago. The group has held reunions in Christchurch at the 10-year mark, Dunedin at the 20-year mark, Wellington at 25 years, Dunedin at 30 years, Auckland at 35 years, and Dunedin at 40 years, with the latest, the 45th reunion, held in the capital.
“We’ve been told we’ve had more reunions than any other class ever in the med school, but some of the classes older than us might be catching up because they are starting to have more reunions now.”
Alumni at the Wellington reunion included current Otago academic staff members, Associate Professor Ben Gray and Adjunct Professor Richard Beasley from the Wellington campus and Professor Rob Walker from the Dunedin campus, with retired Dunedin School of Medicine academic Dr Mike Hunter also travelling to the event. Dr John Scott, who works at the Mayo Clinic in the United States, journeyed the furthest to attend.