These honours are the culmination of decades of service in surgical practice and leadership, academic surgical research and teaching, charity work, community education and volunteering. Each Fellow has made outstanding contributions in their respective fields, spanning specialties and subspecialties including rhinology, urology and paediatric surgery.
Professor Richard George Douglas
To be a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit
For services to rhinology
Professor Richard Douglas is an internationally recognised rhinologist, a subspecialist Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) surgeon and a leading academic.
Professor Douglas was Head of Department of Surgery at the University of Auckland from 2015 to 2021. He established a thriving research programme in rhinology and skull-base surgery that has seen him supervise numerous doctoral candidates, both scientists and clinicians, and has contributed to New Zealand’s reputation globally in academic surgery. He currently leads an active research group and directs a clinical Fellowship programme in rhinology at Auckland City Hospital. His research, particularly on bacteria and mucosal immunity in chronic rhinosinusitis, has produced more than 200 academic publications. As a clinician, he delivers advanced sinus and skull-base surgery at Auckland City and Gillies Hospitals. He is a former President of the Australia and New Zealand Rhinologic Society and is active with the American Rhinologic Society and Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy. Professor Douglas founded the Tarāpunga Charitable Trust, through which he donated a mobile ENT van to provide outreach care across Northland, improving healthcare access for remote communities in Te Tai Tokerau.
Dr Mark Robert Fraundorfer
To be a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit
For services to health, particularly men's health
Dr Mark Fraundorfer has substantially contributed to urology and men’s health.
Dr Fraundorfer is Head of the Urology Department at Tauranga Hospital. He has advanced surgical practice in urology by pioneering minimally invasive techniques that have now become standard practice in New Zealand and worldwide. He has advocated for the reduction of stigma around men’s health issues, and promoted early detection of many men’s health conditions including prostate and testicular cancer and erectile dysfunction. He has led community education campaigns and engaged with the public to advocate for openness in men’s health. He has voluntarily run education seminars, held free men’s health clinics, and has contributed to public policy discussions that aim to reduce health inequities. He is a dive instructor, developed the first commercial dive training school in Tauranga, and was the Medical Advisor to the New Zealand Underwater Association (NZUA). He promoted dive safety as the Accident Investigator for the NZUA, investigating more than 120 fatalities. He instigated and led the development and funding of the Kathleen Kilgour Centre in Tauranga, an independent radiation oncology service which provides public cancer treatment to the wider Bay of Plenty. Dr Fraundorfer has been instrumental in expanding other medical services, including Grace Hospital in Tauranga and Wakefield Hospital in Wellington.
Dr Udayangani Kumudu Sriya (Udaya) Samarakkody
To be a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit
For services to Paediatric Surgery and the Sri Lankan community
Dr Udaya Samarakkody has contributed to Paediatric Surgery and the Sri Lankan community in New Zealand for more than 30 years as a consultant paediatric surgeon and paediatric urologist at Waikato Hospital.
Dr Samarakkody was President of the New Zealand Society of Paediatric Surgeons from 2010 to 2013 and is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Paediatric Surgeons. Since 2005, she has been an instructor for the Australia and New Zealand Surgical Skills Education and Training course of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, and has served on the Education Executive Committee of the Waikato Clinical School. She has published extensively on paediatric surgery and on improving disparity of care. She has trained more than 50 surgeons nationally and internationally. She developed an extensive outreach service to New Zealand’s Midland health region, improving equity of surgical care for rural and Māori children. She co-founded the Sri Lankan Doctors and Dentists Association in New Zealand in 2021 and is Co-Chair. She has held several governance roles with the Sri Lanka Friendship Society Waikato since 1999, introducing and developing many community programmes and annual celebrations, including an annual cultural concert which has run for more than 25 years. Dr Samarakkody received University of Auckland teaching excellence awards in 2019 and 2020.
View the full list of appointments to the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Professor Richard George Douglas
To be a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit
For services to rhinology
Professor Richard Douglas is an internationally recognised rhinologist, a subspecialist Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) surgeon and a leading academic.
Professor Douglas was Head of Department of Surgery at the University of Auckland from 2015 to 2021. He established a thriving research programme in rhinology and skull-base surgery that has seen him supervise numerous doctoral candidates, both scientists and clinicians, and has contributed to New Zealand’s reputation globally in academic surgery. He currently leads an active research group and directs a clinical Fellowship programme in rhinology at Auckland City Hospital. His research, particularly on bacteria and mucosal immunity in chronic rhinosinusitis, has produced more than 200 academic publications. As a clinician, he delivers advanced sinus and skull-base surgery at Auckland City and Gillies Hospitals. He is a former President of the Australia and New Zealand Rhinologic Society and is active with the American Rhinologic Society and Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy. Professor Douglas founded the Tarāpunga Charitable Trust, through which he donated a mobile ENT van to provide outreach care across Northland, improving healthcare access for remote communities in Te Tai Tokerau.
Dr Mark Robert Fraundorfer
To be a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit
For services to health, particularly men's health
Dr Mark Fraundorfer has substantially contributed to urology and men’s health.
Dr Fraundorfer is Head of the Urology Department at Tauranga Hospital. He has advanced surgical practice in urology by pioneering minimally invasive techniques that have now become standard practice in New Zealand and worldwide. He has advocated for the reduction of stigma around men’s health issues, and promoted early detection of many men’s health conditions including prostate and testicular cancer and erectile dysfunction. He has led community education campaigns and engaged with the public to advocate for openness in men’s health. He has voluntarily run education seminars, held free men’s health clinics, and has contributed to public policy discussions that aim to reduce health inequities. He is a dive instructor, developed the first commercial dive training school in Tauranga, and was the Medical Advisor to the New Zealand Underwater Association (NZUA). He promoted dive safety as the Accident Investigator for the NZUA, investigating more than 120 fatalities. He instigated and led the development and funding of the Kathleen Kilgour Centre in Tauranga, an independent radiation oncology service which provides public cancer treatment to the wider Bay of Plenty. Dr Fraundorfer has been instrumental in expanding other medical services, including Grace Hospital in Tauranga and Wakefield Hospital in Wellington.
Dr Udayangani Kumudu Sriya (Udaya) Samarakkody
To be a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit
For services to Paediatric Surgery and the Sri Lankan community
Dr Udaya Samarakkody has contributed to Paediatric Surgery and the Sri Lankan community in New Zealand for more than 30 years as a consultant paediatric surgeon and paediatric urologist at Waikato Hospital.
Dr Samarakkody was President of the New Zealand Society of Paediatric Surgeons from 2010 to 2013 and is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Paediatric Surgeons. Since 2005, she has been an instructor for the Australia and New Zealand Surgical Skills Education and Training course of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, and has served on the Education Executive Committee of the Waikato Clinical School. She has published extensively on paediatric surgery and on improving disparity of care. She has trained more than 50 surgeons nationally and internationally. She developed an extensive outreach service to New Zealand’s Midland health region, improving equity of surgical care for rural and Māori children. She co-founded the Sri Lankan Doctors and Dentists Association in New Zealand in 2021 and is Co-Chair. She has held several governance roles with the Sri Lanka Friendship Society Waikato since 1999, introducing and developing many community programmes and annual celebrations, including an annual cultural concert which has run for more than 25 years. Dr Samarakkody received University of Auckland teaching excellence awards in 2019 and 2020.
View the full list of appointments to the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours in Aotearoa New Zealand.