The University of Auckland's Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences (formerly known as The University of Auckland School of Medicine) was established in 1968 at its present site in Grafton, Auckland. Prior to this, the University of Otago had taught some students from the final years of its medical course in Auckland through a branch faculty of the Dunedin School of Medicine.
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All undergraduate students study "combined first year" which is largely based on the city campus. Students attend class with students from a wide range of degrees. From second year onwards, almost all class room teaching is done at the Grafton campus. The pre-clinical building is on the opposite side of Park road to Auckland Hospital in Grafton, beside the Auckland Domain. The name of the building reflects the historical pre-dominance of medicine within the faculty - the three years before a medicine student begins doing their 'rounds' (practical in hospitals) are known as the 'pre-clinical' years.
The faculty also has substantial offices in Auckland Hospital, and a smaller presence in Middlemore and Waikato hospitals. A system of underground rooms and tunnels extends between the Grafton Pre Clinical building, Auckland hospital and Starship Children's Hospital, much of it under Park Road. This complex is largely occupied by faculty researchers, including for example, the faculty's MRI facilities.
In response to growth, the School of Population Health has moved to a newly built campus in Tamaki. This is believed to have occurred since the Auckland City Council would not allow the University of Auckland to purchase anymore land in the CBD with the council preferring this land to be used for commercial purposes. To accommodate further growth and allow the School of Nursing and Faculty Administration to be housed on the main site, an additional building is being constructed (2009 start) on the south-eastern corner of the Grafton Campus grounds[1].
The faculty is perhaps best known for its medicine programme. The University offers 200 places per year in this six year programme to New Zealand and Australian residents, 20 of which are reserved for rural entry students and a similar number for Maori and Pacific Islanders. These students pay fees in the order of NZ$12,000 per annum, with the Government funding the remaining approximately 70% cost. An additional 10-20 places per year are filled by full fee paying international students, usually from North America or the Middle East. Thirty places in clinical years of the programme are given to students from Malaysia, who are also full fee paying and have completed their preclinical years at the International Medical University. Formerly the faculty offered the Bachelor of Human Biology and the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.Ch.B). Since 2005, this was altered and now prospective doctors study for six years to only gain the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, which is the same recognised programme for trained Doctors to be working in New Zealand.
In addition to this degree the faculty offers other undergraduate (bachelor) degrees which include Bachelor of Optometry, Bachelor of Health Science, Bachelor of Pharmacy, Bachelor of Nursing and Bachelor of Science(Biomedical Science) which is run jointly with the University of Auckland Faculty of Science
A wide range of Post-graduate programmes are also offered, up to the doctorate level (Ph. D, MD).
The faculty is accredited by the Australasian Medical Council.
The faculty is headed by a Dean, Professor Iain Martin, responsible to the Vice Chancellor of the University of Auckland, and is assisted by a Deputy Dean, Heads of Schools, Associate Research, Education and Academic Deans and a Director of Administration. The faculty is funded by Government and student fees, however there is some commercial funding for research. The Faculty is organised into five 'Schools';
The School of Medical Sciences includes departments of Anatomy with Radiology, Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre, Biomedical Imaging Research Unit, Molecular Medicine & Pathology, Nutrition, Oncology, Physiology, and Pharmacology.
The similarly named School of Medicine includes Anaesthesiology, Auckland Clinical School, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Paediatrics, Psychological Medicine, South Auckland Clinical School, Surgery, Waikato Clinical School
The School of Population Health, is primarily located at Tamaki, unlike the other Grafton based divisions of the Faculty. It includes, Audiology, Centre for Asian Health, Research and Evaluation, Centre for Health Services Research and Policy, Clinical Trials Research Unit, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, General Practice and Primary Health Care, Goodfellow unit, Health Research Methods Advisory Service, Health systems, Injury prevention research centre, Immunisation Advisory Centre, Pacific Health, Primary care, Social & Community health, Survey Research Unit, Te Kupenga Hauora Māori, and the Tōmaiora Māori Health Research Group
In addition to these, the faculty also includes the Liggins Institute, which conducts medical research, the Bioengineering Institute, Goodfellow 'Club', Centre for Evidence Based Nursing Aotearoa, Advanced Clinical Skills Centre and two "support units", Faculty Administration and Faculty Support Services.[2]
Most students are taught in the three main Auckland hospitals (namely Auckland City, North Shore and Middlemore). However there is also a significant presence outside Auckland with the Waikato Clinical School branch of the faculty, in Waikato Hospital, Hamilton. This campus is home to 50-60 undergraduate medical students for most of the academic year.[3] From 2008 a similar programme has been introduced in Northland, centering around Whangarei. Small numbers of clinical students also complete short periods in Rotorua hospital and Tauranga hospital. All medical students also rotate through urban and rural General Practice placements.
The Faculty possesses the only brain bank in New Zealand. This brain bank contains over 400 brains bequeathed to the medical school,[4] these include those from people who suffer neurological diseases such as Huntington's disease and Parkinson's disease.
Lobbying by paediatricians from the faculty influenced the placement of the new Starship Children's Hospital. Starship ended up across the road from the faculty's pre-clinical building as opposed to in South Auckland where it is, in hindsight, believed to have been needed more.
Medical Students are isolated from most other students, being based in the Grafton campus, or hospitals during their clinical years.
A traditionally strong student culture has in recent years been threatened by a number of changes - the loss of a first year cohort of school leavers following the introduction of an intermediate year, the loss of designated student space to form a computer room and commercial cafeteria, expansion of clinical attachments to hospitals outside the Auckland region and a bans on sports in the medical school grounds have made social activities more difficult. Attempts to mix Pharmacy, nursing, Optometry and medical students have been limited. Despite this, as students of each year and discipline attend all lectures together, and - excepting health Science - are geographically isolated from other faculties, students within the FMHS have a stronger student culture than many other faculties.
Social interaction between staff and students is encourgaed by co-locating their cafeterias, and events such as staff student debates, and staff appearances in the Med Revue.
The Auckland University Medical Students Association, (AUMSA), is the most active student executive within the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. AUMSA organises New Doctor, an annual Medical Revue for charity, an annual ball, a Fresher's camp for new students, cocktail parties, social events, an inter-year sports competition, and other events, such as charity art sales. AUMSA also funds a number of other student activities, for example publication of New Doctor. AUMSA has traditionally been heavily funded by the Medical Assurance Society, but in recent years sponsorship has also come from ASB Bank.
AUMSA conducts national lobbying, in conjunction with the University of Otago's student association forming the New Zealand Medical Students' Association. Notably this advocacy recently lead to a $10,000 increase in the Trainee Intern grant. The Auckland University Students' Association, (AUSA), has little involvement, student union funding being in part diverted to AUMSA, in a similar arrangement to that with the law school students association.
Past AUMSA Presidents:
Separate student bodies exist to represent Pharmacy and nursing students, and these organise social gatherings.
Founded in 1970, and initially known as 'Quack', New Doctor is a regular news and satirical magazine funded by AUMSA, (taking the place of the AUSA's Craccum on the main campus). As with many student publications, New Doctor has frequently courted controversy - since the millennium, one university staff member has threatened to sue it for defamation, a dean has threatened to suspend two editors, and would-be editors have been castigated for campaign stunts deemed inappropriate for future professionals. During the 2006 campaigning season two students were verbally reprimanded for defacing the faculty courtyard with a giant chalk slogan reading "M&J 4 ND". Its subsequent removal by an external graffiti removal agency led to a non-violent protest by the campaigners who were assaulted with a high-powered waterblaster as they lay in defiance protecting their slogan. [5]
One quirk of the magazine results from an informal lawsuit settlement, after charges were laid following an article ranking the attractiveness of students. The punitive damages awarded were that New Doctor would forego the use of its hallowed original title, each edition instead bearing a new two word title beginning with N and D. Some of these acronyms have in turn become controversial - the Dean having complained about campaign posters advertising "Narcotic Delirium" depicting illicit drug use in 2004, although the magazine's first colour edition appeared under that name in late 2006.
The editors also run Youtube[6] and Facebook[7] pages.
Past editors:
The New Zealand Medical Student Journal, started by a group of medical students from Otago University in 2003, is an internationally recognised peer-reviewed medical journal run entirely by students. The Journal is a biannual publication and publishes a range of academic articles, features articles, and book reviews. In 2005 students from the Auckland School of Medicine were invited to join the national editorial board.
A number of clubs exist, catering to religious, ethnic and vocational interests.
The Grassroots Rural Health Club, was founded in 2004 and has a membership of around 1/4 of the students. Modelled on the government funded Australian rural health clubs, and Otago's Matagouri club, Grassroots was started in response to the lack of rural G.P.s and the lack of support for rural preferential entrance scheme students, with a grant from Waikato DHB's Institute of Rural Health. It contributes members to the national rural student health body, ARHA. The club organises social and sporting events, as well as training in practical skills not covered in depth within the university curriculum.
The Maori and Pacific Island "MAPAS" club was again formed to assist minority preferential entry scheme students, and is active with social events and tutoring, but remains smaller due to effectively restricting membership to those of Maori or Pacific ethnicity.
A branch of Medical Students for Global Awareness (MSGA) is active in promoting local and global humanitarian issues to students and fundraising for various charities. Other special interest groups include a surgical club, a Christian club, and an Asian club. Various sports teams are organised, the most prominent in recent years being the faculty rugby team.