Seiuli Dr Juliet Walker

Seiuli Dr Juliet Walker was born in Samoa and raised in Tauranga. Her secondary school years were spent in Wellington and in her final year, she was Head Girl at Wellington Girls College and won a National Māori and Pacific scholarship to attend Auckland Medical School. After graduation and doing a post-graduation diploma in Obstetrics, Dr Walker travelled overseas to the UK for a few years. When she returned to New Zealand she went into General Practice.

Dr Walker spent 20 plus years working in Mangere, South Auckland. It was hard work, with huge patient workloads with nearly 100% being Samoan patients. She became committed to Pacific Health. It was during this time Governance opportunities presented. South Seas Healthcare was established and Dr Walker was a board member for 10 years. She was also an inaugural member of the Pasifika Medical Association. With the involvement at this level, opportunities became available at national level and Dr Walker represented Pacific on the Boards of Counties Manukau District Health Board then Auckland District Health Board.

As a GP, Dr Walker represented Pacific on many National Advisory Boards, including Breast Screen, Bowel Screen, and Children’s and latterly Maternity. Women’s health and well-being has always got special attention from Dr Walker. Eventually she got her General Practice Fellowship with the College of GPs and then went on to help with mentoring and education within the college, encouraging other Pacific GPs to obtain fellowship.

South Auckland has been Dr Walker’s work home all her life and she is currently working in Manukau with a wide variety of ethnicities. If Dr Walker wasn’t working, she would read novels, do gardening, and spend more time at the beach. She has 2 sisters, 2 grown up sons, 2 little granddaughters, and a husband of 35 years. Dr Walker is a founding member of South Seas Healthcare.