University of Otago educators and researchers received awards at the recent National Rural Health Conference, Dr Matt Bell the Emerging Rural Educator Award and India Manthel the Emerging Researcher Award.

Matt was a graduate of RMIP on the West Coast before returning there as a rural GP. Since 2022 he has also been the  local RMIP coordinator and has rapidly become a highly respected and  valued member of the team. Matt has successfully navigated a significant expansion of RMIP and secured placements in more rural and remote areas.

India has been very active in the rural clubs and is currently doing RMIP in Queenstown. Last summer India was granted a UOC Future Health Researcher (FHR) scholarship, the first in the FHR programme to be undertaken entirely by distance at a rural site. The research explored the association of medical student rural background with rural practice outcomes in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) and will help inform future rural origin admission programmes. India presented the research at the conference.