Dr Macleod, a University of Otago graduate, was addressing about 310 Otago medical and physiotherapy graduates at a 1pm ceremony at the Dunedin Town Hall on Saturday.
He urged graduates to think of a mother ''holding her sick child in the waiting room'', and to think of the new All Black who broke his leg in his debut test before the World Cup. He told doctors to ''think of their reality and their emotions''.
''Trust me, it is your empathy, not your knowledge, that will make you a good clinician.''
He warned that ''vast challenges'' lay ahead for people entering ''humanitarian but demanding professions''. It was ''difficult to care for sick, sore and terminally ill people'' each day.
He recalled having
to tell a Highlander he would never play rugby again after ''a massive aortic aneurysm'' had been discovered. ''With just a few words, his world collapsed.''
Such situations tested the ''stamina and character'' of health practitioners every day.
Otago University dentistry graduate and New Zealand Dental Association chief executive David Crum also emphasised ''genuinely giving care'' in another address to about 330 Otago health science graduates, including in dentistry, who were attending a second graduation ceremony at the town hall at 4pm on Saturday.
''Genuinely giving care to the patients you have, to your colleagues, families and self is what brings depth to success,'' he said.
Mr Crum said it was a ''huge ask'' for health professionals to find the balance between caring for patients, colleagues, family members and themselves.
But he urged them to ''forget perfection'' and to ''go for excellence or even very good'', and to make and take opportunities, and to develop a support network from which they could seek advice.
He praised the high calibre of leadership at the Otago School of Dentistry and said this year it was placed eighth in the world in QS World University rankings.
