Associate Professor Andrew Connolly

General and Colorectal Surgeon, Counties Manukau Health, Auckland, NZ

Associate Professor Andrew Connolly was appointed as Middlemore Hospital’s first specialist colorectal surgeon in 1997 and became Head of Department of General and Vascular Surgery in 2003, serving in that role until 2019. He has mentored many of the surgeons into national and international leadership positions. He was appointed to the Medical Council of New Zealand in 2009 and was served as Chairman from 2014 to 2018. He has led major changes and improvements in Resident doctor education, recertification for doctors, and has been a member of the Ministerial Task Group on Clinical Leadership. He has served on various national committees, including chairing the Ministerial Review of the Impact of The Elective Waiting Times Policy and he is currently the Ministry of Health’s Acting Chief Medical Officer. He is an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Auckland and in the January 2019 New Year’s Honours he was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to health. Outside of medicine he is a New Zealand military historian focusing on First World War, especially medical history.