News

For Immediate Release: 18 April 2011

New Zealand’s Dr. Alec Ekeroma Named to OUM Council

The governing board of Oceania University of Medicine has appointed Dr. Alec Ekeroma from the University of Auckland School of Medicine to join its ranks.

“We are pleased to have a leader of Dr. Ekeroma’s stature on the OUM Council,” says Taffy Gould, Chairman of the OUM Council and Interim Vice Chancellor. “The Council is made up of businesspeople, educators, and doctors, and it is good to have another medical doctor as well as representation from New Zealand, which is very important to OUM.”

Dr. Ekeroma is a Senior Lecturer in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Auckland Medical School and Head of the Pacific Women’s Health Research & Development Unit. He has been very active in professional and peer activities with the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists and the Medical Council of New Zealand.

“A strong Oceania University of Medicine is very important to the people of Samoa and the South Pacific,” says Dr. Ekeroma. “I am looking forward to working with the Council as well as the faculty and administration in making OUM a leading medical school in the region.”

After earning his MBBS degree from the University of Papua New Guinea, Dr. Ekeroma received postgraduate training at the University of Auckland and in the United Kingdom. He has won several awards and distinctions for his service to the profession and the community, has been involved with health programs for the Pacific region including for overseas medical students and doctors, and has authored numerous refereed research articles, conference presentations, book chapters, and research grants.

Dr. Ekeroma replaces Magele Mauiliu Magele, who resigned from the OUM Council after being elected to Parliament and appointed to become Samoa’s Minister of Education.

Located on the grounds of the National Hospital Complex in Apia, Samoa, Oceania University of Medicine, which offers MD and MBBS degrees to its graduates, has a current student body of approximately 125 from five countries. Graduates are receiving their post-graduate residency and internship specialty training at teaching hospitals in Australia, Samoa, and the United States. OUM is accredited by the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities, listed in the World Health Organization's World Directory of Medical Schools, and recognized by the Education Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. For more information about OUM, visit www.oceaniamed.org.