Linda Holloway


Dame Linda Jane Holloway is a Scottish-born New Zealand anatomical pathologist academic, and was a full professor at the University of Otago.

Early life

Born in Loanhead, Midlothian, Scotland, on 10 June 1940. She was raised in that country, and met her husband, New Zealand forester John Stevenson Holloway, the son of John Thorpe Holloway, while he was a student at the University of Aberdeen. She moved to New Zealand in 1970, becoming a naturalised New Zealander in 1978.

Academic career

After emigrating, Holloway initially worked in provincial New Zealand, before moving to the University of Otago and Dunedin Hospital in 1975. She held numerous administrative and advisory roles, including medical advisor to the Cartwright Inquiry and being a long-serving member of the Abortion Supervisory Committee. Holloway became a full professor at Otago in 1994, and following her retirement in 2006 was conferred the title of professor emeritus.
In the 1997 Queen's Birthday Honours, Holloway was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to medicine. She was elevated to Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2005 Queen’s Birthday Honours, and she accepted redesignation as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit following the restoration of titular honours by the New Zealand government in 2009.

Personal life

Holloway's husband, John, was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to forestry and conservation, in the 1998 Queen's Birthday Honours. He died in Dunedin on 1 January 1999.

Selected works

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