More than 560 graduands, mainly in health sciences, including medicine, pharmacy and physiotherapy, graduated in person from the university in a ceremony at the Dunedin Town Hall on Saturday.
Ms Lamb is Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner for Complaints Resolution, and previously was a journalist for 27 years, including as a specialised health reporter for Radio New Zealand.
During a graduation address, she recalled being in New York with her family on a sunny autumn morning on September 11, 2001, while she completed her Harkness Fellowship.
After news came through that the first plane had flown into one of the World Trade Centre's twin towers she and a fellow New Zealand journalist had headed there.
"Shortly after the second tower fell, we walked down Manhattan, against a tide of people who were increasingly distressed and dishevelled as we got further downtown."
After bluffing her way past a cordon which was being set up, she had spent the day, and into the night, just a few blocks away from what remained of the towers, observing the rescue effort.
"There was a pay phone on that street, which we shared with locals, survivors, and rescue workers - police, firefighters and medics.
"Every time I got to the front of the line, I called Radio New Zealand and they put me live on air here.
"It was very unsophisticated. Pure journalism. See it, hear it, and report it - with no time to craft a story or even write anything down.
"People said it was good to hear a New Zealand voice reporting".
Graduates, she said, had "knowledge and skills to make a difference to other people's lives". There would be "hard days when nothing is going right. There will also - every now and then - be good days at the office - days when even small things may remind you why you do what you do. Hold on to those days," she said.
