North doc Harvard bound

GOING PLACES: Mataroria Lyndon, 29, will be heading to Harvard University next year to complete a masters degree in public health. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Mataroria Lyndon was motivated to set foot in the medical field after growing up in Northland and seeing health disparities between Maori and non-Maori first hand. Now he is off to Harvard Medical School.

The 29-year-old of Ngati Hine, Ngati Hau and Ngati Wai descent went to kohanga in Tikipunga and Te Horo School in Pipiwai, before moving to South Auckland. He said he was motivated to become a doctor after living in deprived communities and seeing inequalities in health.

"I'd go stay at my friend's house and, you don't think anything at the time, but there would be six people living in a three-bedroom house. Kids would be going to school with hot chips for breakfast and a bottle of Coke.

"Looking at my whanau, some of them would be 50 but look 70. Diabetes was a problem ... and smoking," he said.

Dr Lyndon has been a doctor for almost five years and currently works at Middlemore Hospital. In August next year, he will head to Harvard University in Boston to complete his masters degree in public health, after finishing his PhD in medical education from Auckland University next May.

"When I tell people I'm going to Harvard they say 'Your dream has come true'. But it never really was my dream, it's not meant to be my dream and it's not really the right dream. What I can take away from there, how I can fill my kete with knowledge to help people - that's why I want to go to Harvard.

"When I finished by medical degree people said 'You can come home now' but Matua Mataroria Brown, a kaumatua, said don't come back here for 10 years, go and learn. I want to go away and learn more, and come back and improve Maori health," he said.

This week is Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori, a kaupapa Dr Lyndon supports. Te reo was passed down to him and his siblings from their elders. He said he would not be who he was today without te reo and Maori culture.

"Sir James Henare, a Ngati Hine chief, said 'Te reo is the mauri of Maori'. It has given me confidence. For me, it's important to have the language to connect. It's had a huge impact on my work and what I can contribute. Having patients who can speak te reo, it's humbling speaking to them in te reo and seeing their eyes light up."

Dr Lyndon said his whanau, iwi and hapu had supported him while he had been studying and working in medicine. A role model is Whangarei MP Shane Reti, who completed a masters degree at Harvard University in 2010 and became an associate professor there in 2012.

"He was my grandparents' GP when he was the mobile doctor in Pipiwai," he said.

There is a Maori saying that Dr Lyndon said captured his motivation for working in medicine and the importance of te reo Maori - "ko tou rourou, ko toku rourou ka ora ai te iwi," which translates as "with your contribution and my contribution there lies well-being for the people". Dr Lyndon said it was not a question of "if" he would return to work in Northland but "when".