Mel Brieseman

Who is Mel Brieseman?

Mel Athol Brieseman is a New Zealand public health official, surgeon, obstetrician and former missionary to India. Brieseman was born in Stratford, New Zealand, and after completing his primary and secondary schooling in Taranaki left for the University of Otago to study medicine. There he met his wife Joan, who was secretary to a professor of microbiology, and after marrying and graduating returned with her to Taranaki, taking up a house surgeon job in New Plymouth. Brieseman spent four years in this job, and by this time his wife bore four children, before the family left for England after Brieseman was granted a scholarship. They spent a year there before emigrating to India where they worked as missionaries north of Bombay.

Brieseman spent 10 years in India as a practicing surgeon and obstetrician while his wife helped with hospital and outreach programmes in the villages. Their children were schooled 1000 km to the south, returning to their parents for the school holidays. This “third-world” work inspired in Brieseman an interest in public health, and when his children began to outgrow the Indian education system he and his family returned to Dunedin where he completed a Diploma in Public Health. After his return Indian authorities became less accepting of foreign doctors, which discouraged Brieseman from plans to go back. He instead took on a government job as the Medical Officer of Health for the Canterbury region in 1977, and has held the position for nearly 30 years. In this time Brieseman has monitored and managed public health response to issues such as water quality, HIV, smoking, measles, influenza, diabetes and Legionnaires' disease. Melvin Brieseman died at his home in Christchurch on 25 October 2010.