BOP Medical Students Scholarship

In 1976, at the suggestion of the NZ Medical Association (BOP branch), a group of Tauranga doctors established a fund in memory of Dr John Mark, who was a well known and respected local General Practitioner until the 1950s. This fund was set up to help financially disadvantaged medical students from the Bay of Plenty region. The NZMA administered the fund, and in 1998 the first grant of $300 was approved.

The scholarship helped several medical students over the years, but by 2007, with many of the original committee retiring, it was felt that it would be better administered by the Acorn Foundation. The Trust was wound up and the new Bay of Plenty Medical Students Scholarship fund was established with Acorn.

In 2009, the assets of the BOP Post Graduate Medical Foundation Trust were added to this fund, which is now helping to train the next generation of doctors in this region, continuing John Mark’s legacy.