Best of 2025: Dr Timoti Te Moke opens up about upbringing on the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

From prison to med school: Dr Timoti te Moke opens up about rough upbringing that led him to healthcare

Dr Timoti Te Moke became a doctor at age 56, but it wasn't an easy road to get into medical school.

Before he started at Middlemore Hospital, he endured a childhood filled with abuse, time in state care, in prison and eventually gangs.

He detailed his journey in his new book, The Unlikely Doctor, and says he wrote it to shine a light on the barriers holding Kiwis back from reaching their potential.

"There are a lot of people that could be where I am, but due to the barriers that society put in place, they are not able to do this. Essentially, what my book is looking at is the potential this country could have if we realised that these are the barriers we have in place."

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