Emeritus Professor Dame Linda Holloway is to receive the honour for a career spanning 60 years, during which she has been a prominent pathologist, a pro-vice-chancellor of health sciences for the University of Otago, and the first woman to be dean of the Otago Medical School.
While the 84-year-old was "honoured, overwhelmed and very excited" to receive the honour, she was looking forward to giving the graduation address even more.
Dame Linda said the first part of her speech would remind the graduands about how lucky they were to have had such a "well-rounded" education, because it meant there was so much potential for them to develop different career paths.
"But in the second part of the talk, I’ve been very naughty because I will talk about the new hospital.
"Health should be considered an investment, not a cost.
"So I’m asking the graduates to take that message with them wherever they go, because Cliff the ambulance can’t be everywhere all at once."
Dame Linda came to national prominence when she was the pathology medical adviser for the Cartwright Inquiry (1987-88), which investigated the treatment of women with cervical cancer at National Women’s Hospital in Auckland.
It was a watershed moment in patients’ rights around the globe which led to significant reforms towards a patient-centred healthcare system.
Dame Linda started her career at the University of Aberdeen, graduating with a bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery in 1964.
After graduating, she trained in academic and diagnostic pathology, before moving to New Zealand in 1970.
She lived in Gisborne and later moved to West Otago, where she spent time in rural general practice, before relocating to Dunedin and completing her specialist training.
At this time, she returned to Scotland for two years where she was a senior lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, and at the same time she completed her doctoral thesis in perinatal pathology and gained experience in lung pathology.
On returning to New Zealand, she accepted an appointment as a senior lecturer in Otago’s department of pathology.
She later became professor and then dean of the Wellington School of Medicine — the first woman to be a dean of medicine in the country — before moving to the Dunedin campus.
She has also held several board roles, including the chairwoman of the National Health Committee, a member of the Medicines Assessment Advisory Committee, a long-serving chairwoman of the Abortion Supervisory Committee, and director of the Institute of Environmental Health and Forensic Sciences Ltd.
Dame Linda was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1997 for services to medicine, and was elevated to Distinguished Companion in 2005, and Dame Companion in 2009.
"In the years following my retirement from full-time work, I have enjoyed providing interim leadership to a number of departments," she said.
"As someone who loves teaching, I have been able to continue to teach undergraduates in my discipline of pathology."
She will continue to teach pathology to medical students in Dunedin next year, but admitted she would be slowing down "just a little".
Vice-chancellor Grant Robertson said Dame Linda’s achievements were "nothing short of extraordinary".
"She has been a trailblazer for women in medicine and we are proud to have had her at Otago for so many years."
