Spouse Tracy O'Sullivan | ||
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Children Lance Junior, Conor O’Sullivan | ||
Lance O'Sullivan (born 1973) is a New Zealand Māori doctor (Te Rarawa, Ngati Hau, Ngati Maru) practising in Kaitaia, Northland. He was declared New Zealander of the Year 2014 for bringing health programmes to disadvantaged in rural areas.
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Early life
O'Sullivan was born in Auckland and received his senior secondary education as a boarder at Hato Petera College. He has stated, in respect of this: "Having attended a Maori Catholic boarding school, I realised the importance of faith. I regained important values that I lost. Those values underpinned my work in helping those in need. I guess these comes through from the aspect of my Catholic upbringing." He graduated in Medicine at the University of Auckland.
Career and health programmes
O'Sullivan and his wife, Tracy, set up the low-cost health clinic "Te Kohanga Whakaora" (The Nest of Wellness) to make basic healthcare accessible for people in the Far North. He has stated: "I see people on a daily basis who can't afford to see me, who can't afford to pay for their medications. We have emergency prescription funds donated to our clinic from New Zealanders around the country who heard about us". O'Sullivan also set up the "Manawa Ora Korokoro Ora (Moko) programme", Northland's first full-time, school-based health clinic, providing medical care to 2000 children across the region, as well as the "Kainga Ora (Well Home) initiative", which promotes the idea of fixing rundown homes, as he believes that wellness begins in safe warm homes. Dr Lance is also the developer of the vMOKO medical app, that helps to deal with medical issues as they are found from any location in New Zealand.
Awards
O'Sullivan was declared New Zealander of the Year 2014 for his work on rural health projects, and Cameron Bennett, chief judge of the awards, said "Lance O'Sullivan's passion, drive and unwavering commitment to eradicating poverty related illnesses are exactly the kind of qualities we look for." O'Sullivan was named supreme Maori of the Year in 2013, as well as winning in the Health category, and has been awarded a Sir Peter Blake Trust leadership award, and a public health champion award. In 2014, he was named the second most trusted New Zealander by Readers Digest. In 2015 he was named Communicator of the Year.