A total of 21 Pacific medical graduands had been due to graduate in a ceremony at the Dunedin Town Hall, and one student graduated earlier, bringing the year’s total to 22.
However, the ceremony was postponed for security reasons.
Otago Medical School Dunedin campus Associate Dean Pacific Dr Xaviour Walker said the "transformational" numbers would help counter inequities and meet health needs.
The previous Otago record was 15 in 2018.
Mr Tinielu will also become one of the first two medical graduates of the POPO Foundation Scholarship Programme at Otago,
This supports Pacific students with a Foundation Year course as a bridge to studying the health sciences first-year course.
One of six children, Mr Tinielu was brought up in "quite a tough area" in Porirua after his parents moved to New Zealand from Tokelau in the 1990s.
It was "a bit of a shame" the graduation had to be postponed, but he was taking a positive view, he said.
"I’m just grateful for the people who helped me all of the time."
Among the helpers was the university’s Pacific Islands Research & Student Support Unit, he said.
