Past, present and future health champions honour MAPAS pioneer Professor Colin Mantell

Generations of Māori and Pacific health professionals have gathered at Waipapa Marae to honour the legacy of the man who helped shape the future of Māori and Pacific medical education.

Emeritus Professor Colin Mantell (Ngāi Tahu) died peacefully on 3 October 2026, leaving behind a remarkable legacy in medicine, medical education, and Māori and Pacific health.

Over a career spanning more than six decades, Mantell helped transform the pathways available to Māori and Pacific students entering medicine. An internationally recognised researcher and specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology, he went on to become the University of Auckland's inaugural Professor of Māori and Pacific Health.

Among his many contributions to the health sector was his role as the founding chair of the Māori and Pacific Admission Scheme (MAPAS), which sought to grow a health workforce that better reflected and served Māori and Pacific communities.

"He leaves behind generations of doctors he inspired, a grateful community, and a family who loved him fiercely," Mantell's obituary states.

Throughout the kawe mate, held on Wednesday at Waipapa Taumata Rau, Auckland University, generations of colleagues and health leaders reflected on Mantell's commitment to creating a fairer health system.

In the late 1990s, Mantell became a driving force behind Vision 20:20, a kaupapa aimed at growing the number of Māori and Pacific people working across Aotearoa's health system.

As part of that vision, the university established a foundation programme for Māori and Pacific students preparing for health professional study, which later became Hikitia Te Ora, the Certificate in Health Sciences.

Reflecting on the programme, Mantell said at the time, it was important that students did not feel they were "always on the outer, always at risk of failure", and instead received support that recognised their individual needs and potential.

Professor Papaarangi Reid, Tumuaki of Te Kupenga Hauora Māori, said Mantell recognised early that meaningful change in health required a different approach to medical education.

"Generations of students have walked through doors that Colin helped open. His legacy lives in us, in the communities we serve and in the continuing work of MAPAS. We owe him an enormous debt of gratitude."

Among those paying tribute at the kawe mate was Professor David Tipene-Leach, who was involved in the programme's early development.

"Colin Mantell was a visionary," Tipene-Leach told RNZ.

An obstetrician by training, Mantell became concerned by the differences in health outcomes between Māori and Pacific babies and those of non-Māori and non-Pacific backgrounds.

Tipene-Leach (Pōrangahau, Ngāti Kere and Ngāti Manuhiri) said Mantell recognised the need to address those inequities and used his position within the medical school to help grow a pathway for Māori and Pacific students into health professions.

"He grew the MAPAS scheme from two, three entries a year up to the huge number of entries that they have now."

That legacy was echoed throughout the kawe mate, as speakers reflected on Mantell's lifelong commitment to addressing inequities in Māori and Pacific health.

Tipene-Leach said Mantell took responsibility for nurturing MAPA's vision and expanding its reach.

At the time Tipene-Leach began medical school in 1974, there were just three Māori students in his year, and one in the year before.

Today, MAPAS has produced more than 1,000 graduates from the University of Auckland, with dozens of students entering the programme each year.

The tribute comes as MAPAS faces renewed political scrutiny, with debate over the future of targeted admission schemes for Māori and Pacific students.

Tipene-Leach said the programme's value could be demonstrated through the outcomes of its graduates.

"We've heard from the present controversy that's going on around whether we should or shouldn't have a MAPAS scheme," he said.

"We've found that these MAPAS graduates, they pass at the same rates, they stay in New Zealand, they don't go overseas, they are more likely to become general practitioners. And we know there's a shortage of that. They're more likely to go into the regions, into rural medicine, and we know there's a shortage there.

"These are exactly the doctors that we should be training in New Zealand."

After five decades in medical practiceTipene-Leach said his vision was for a Māori health workforce equipped to serve its own communities.

"I've been in practice for 50 years now, and it's always been that we have a Māori workforce that is able to service our community and be the front line of service in our community. But the truth is that what we need is we need allies who are there with us in the battle for good health for Māori people, for Pacific people, in fact, for everybody in Aotearoa New Zealand who at the moment don't get a fair deal."

Tipene-Leach said the kaupapa Mantell helped nurture continued to be important for the future of healthcare in Aotearoa.