Taranaki Medical Foundation was started in the 1960's with a grant from the Taranaki Savings Bank of $100,000, with the purpose of fostering medical research and education.

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An Incorporated Society was formed, the grant invested with TSB Bank and the interest used to fund an annual educational meeting. The guest speaker was to be called the Taranaki Savings Bank Visiting Professor.

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The week of the Visiting Professor was very busy - a talk on the Wednesday, giving a lecture at the Thursday lunchtime meeting (Grand Round), an evening public lecture, another lecture in South Taranaki and a full Saturday morning session. Add to this a round of social engagements with the medical fraternity.

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By the late 1980's the practicality of getting a 5-day visiting Professor was becoming impractical, so a monthly meeting was proposed. These were to be sociable education events to encourage as many doctors from the whole of the province to attend. These CME (continuing medical education) meetings are now held 11 months of the year and are attended by GPs, hospital doctors and medical students.

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In the 1990's two substantial bequests were received from Mrs Doubrovey and Mrs Finch. These bequests were invested and are used to fund the CME meetings, research projects and education of our Taranaki doctors.

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Examples of projects that have been supported by the Foundation include the Whanau Pakari project, a major knee replacement study and the development of software to quickly screen children for ADHD.

 

Taranaki Medical Foundation became a charitable society in 2002.