Thursday, 4 March, 2005
New Chair for NZMA
Auckland pathologist and physician Dr Ross Boswell is the new Chairman of the New Zealand Medical Association. He takes
over from Dr Tricia Briscoe, who is standing down on April 5 at the end of her two year term.
Dr Boswell has been Deputy Chair for the past two years, and was unopposed in the election for Chairman.
He sees the issue of workforce as the most critical problem facing the New Zealand health system now and in the near
future: “We have critical shortages of medical specialists in many disciplines including General Practice, of skilled
nurses, and of allied health professionals. These shortages will become worse as concerns for patient safety and for
professionals' wellbeing lead to the curtailment of the long hours of work previously accepted as normal.”
Dr Boswell graduated in the inaugural class from Auckland Medical School in 1974, trained in Christchurch as a registrar
in pathology and medicine, and gained a PhD in molecular biology. He worked in the UK for five years at Cambridge and
Southampton Universities, before returning in 1987 to the Christchurch School of Medicine where he was Professor of
Pathology. He has worked as a chemical pathologist and physician at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital since 1996.
As an NZMA Board member and Deputy Chair, Dr Boswell took a particular interest in the New Zealand Medical Journal and
in junior doctor issues. He is a member of the Government’s Doctors-in-Training Workforce Roundtable and of the Council
of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.
Dr Don Simmers, a Wellington GP, is the new NZMA Deputy Chair. He has been a Board member since 2002.
Dr Simmers has a strong interest in medical workforce issues, is a member of the Health Workforce Advisory Committee’s
Medical Reference Group, and heads the NZMA’s Workforce sub-committee. He was responsible for the NZMA’s 2004 report, An
Analysis of the New Zealand General Practitioner Workforce, which detailed an alarming decrease in GP numbers. He also
has a particular interest in issues facing rural doctors, and in maternity services.
ENDS