21st WONCA World Rural Health Conference, 10-13 April 2026: Read More – WONCA 2026 | Home
These awards celebrate the rising stars in our rural health community — those who are making early but impactful contributions to research and education. The recipients of the Hauora Taiwhenua Emerging Researcher and Educator Awards demonstrate a strong commitment to improving rural health outcomes through inquiry, innovation, and teaching. Presented at this year’s National Rural Health Conference, their passion and potential signal a bright future for rural health in Aotearoa.
Read more below on our recipients!
Since 2022, Dr Bell has served as a local coordinator and educator for the West Coast’s Rural Medical Immersion Programme. Based in Greymouth, where he works as a general practitioner and lives with his wife and young family, he has consistently demonstrated an unwavering commitment to rural medical education.
Despite the demands of clinical practice and family life, Matt ensures that every student placed under his care receives an outstanding educational experience. He has navigated a number of complex challenges in recent years, including the expansion of the RMIP programme on the West Coast, where he has successfully secured new placements in more rural and remote areas.
He works hard to accommodate the unique needs and interests of each student and actively supports his colleagues to do the same. His kindness, calm leadership, and deep passion for rural medicine have been fundamental to his students’ success. Local students consistently report their love for the West Coast and rural practice after working with Dr Bell, and many become strong advocates for both following their time in the programme.
Matt exemplifies the spirit of rural education, and his influence is helping shape the future of healthcare in rural Aotearoa.
India Manthel is a fifth-year medical student at the University of Otago, Christchurch (UOC), currently placed in Queenstown as part of the Rural Medical Immersion Programme. She entered medicine as a postgraduate, with a BSc in Physiology and Criminology.
Last summer, she completed a UOC Future Health Researcher (FHR) scholarship in rural health. Based at Dunstan Hospital, her scholarship was the first in the FHR programme to be undertaken entirely by distance. Their research aimed to explore the association of medical student rural background with rural practice outcomes in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) and, consequently, inform future rural admission selection criteria for NZ medical schools to enhance NZ’s rural workforce. The research is intended to be submitted for publication this year. Her FHR scholarship is an exciting advancement in enabling rural health research, especially amongst the health professional student cohort, and I intend to continue this momentum.
India is passionate about sparking interest in rural health amongst my peers and colleagues. This is her second year as President of Country Scrubs, the University of Otago, Christchurch’s rural health club. Additionally, this is her second year as Rural Representative of Christchurch Medical Students’ Association, and she was Secretary of Matagouri Rural Health Club (University of Otago), in 2024.
