Women Doctors in New Zealand: An Historical Perspective 1921-1986

1990

Medical Storage WZ80.5 W5 W872

Auckland: IMS

Six years after the establishment of the University of Otago in 1869, the Otago Medical School was opened. The first person of Chinese descent to graduate from the School was Kathleen Anuei Pih-Chang (1903-91). As a child, she was nursed back to health by Margaret Reid, Dunedin missionary to China. The pair developed a close relationship, and when Reid returned to Dunedin in 1908, she brought Pih-Chang with her, eventually adopting her. After a secondary education at Otago Girls High School, she attended Otago Medical School, the ‘only Chinese’ to do so at a time when ‘anti-Chinese prejudice was still strong’. After graduation, Pih-Chang returned to China as a missionary doctor, administering to all who needed her services. In 1969, Pih-Chang and her husband retired to Tauranga.