MBChB, FRACP, FRCPA

Dr Matt Wheeler is a leading Māori haematologist, physician, and tireless advocate for health equity, whose influence spans medicine, policy, and national discourse. With dual Fellowships in Internal Medicine and Pathology, he serves as Clinical Equity Lead, Head of Department of General Medicine, previously on secondment as Associate Chief Medical Officer at Te Whatu Ora Hauora a Toi Bay of Plenty, and leads the thrombosis service at Tauranga Hospital.

A graduate of Waipapa Taumata Rau – University of Auckland MBChB (2007), and Fellowships of both the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP) and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (FRCPA). In 2019-2020, Matt was supported by a Rotary Global Grant to complete a thrombosis postgraduate Fellowship at McMaster University, Canada. This was part of his final qualification as a specialist haematologist and equipped him to work with a focus on research and its methodologies now he is home among Maori and Pacific people. His ongoing research in Māori and Pacific communities, reflecting his enduring commitment to kaupapa Māori and systemic change.

With his whakapapa to Kāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe and Waitaha, Matt brings cultural grounding to every layer of his leadership. He chairs the RACP Māori Health Committee and is a member of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island and Māori Health Committee for the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA). He co-leads Te Minenga (a support network for Māori junior doctors), focusing on Māori leadership of the future, includes him teaching te reo at Tauranga Hospital.  This work has him in practice, governance, and strategic equity across the health system.

In 2025, he submitted to Parliament’s Justice Select Committee, opposing the Treaty Principles Bill warning of its impact on Māori health. “Equity is not about doing more for one group,” he stated. “It’s about doing what’s needed to achieve fairness.” As a father, he shared the devastating truth: a non-Māori baby born today is expected to outlive both of his own children. “That is what inequity looks like in this country.”

Matt is a staunch advocate for culturally safe care and dismantling structural racism. He co-authored the pivotal address Letter on an Iceberg (NZMJ, 2021), calling for urgent systemic change. He also spoke out against the Government’s rollback of targeted bowel cancer screening for Māori and Pacific peoples, citing the potential loss of life and increased inequity.

Despite national roles, Matt remains grounded in his whānau. A dedicated husband and father, he draws strength from whakapapa and lives by a simple truth: health equity for Māori is not a goal—it’s a promise that must be fulfilled.

Links:

Waatea News.com: A one-day kidney transplant workup programme has greatly sped up the procedure for potential recipients by enabling patients with chronic kidney disease to finish a number of tests on the same day. Dr Matt Wheeler | General Physician and Haematologist at Tauranga Hospital August 23, 2023 (Audio)

#BHN Dr Matt Wheeler on how the treaty principles bill impacts Māori health (YouTube)

Not true': Physicians disputing Govt claims following bowel cancer screening changes, Newstalk ZB 13 March 2025 (audio)

Physician associates not the answer to health system under pressure NZ Doctor article 30 April 2025

Ep126: Trying times for Māori medics Pomegranate Health Podcast 27 March 2025

Māori health leaders demand government kill Treaty Principles Bill 12 September 2024 

Blood cancer incidence, mortality and survival for Māori in New Zealand Cancer Epidemiol  December 2024 article