Alan Kerr

Alan Ronald Kerr (born ) is a New Zealand cardiac surgeon who, after his career at Green Lane Hospital, spent almost twenty years volunteering in Palestine where he operated on paediatric heart patients and trained Palestinian surgeons. Kerr and his wife Hazel were named joint Senior New Zealander of the Year for 2026.

Early life and family Kerr was born in East Tākaka in , the son of Rona Kerr (née Cross) and David Ronald Kerr. His younger brother was Roger Kerr. Alan Kerr was educated at Nelson College from 1946 to 1951, and went on to study at the University of Otago, graduating Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, in 1957.

In 1960, Kerr married Elizabeth Hazel Taylor at the Presbyterian church in the Wellington suburb of Seatoun.

Staff from Green Lane hosted and trained doctors from overseas and visited foreign hospitals

Work in Palestine In 2001, Kerr joined the Palestine Children's Relief Fund volunteering his services as a paediatric cardiac surgeon. Between 2001 and 2018, he made over 40 trips to the West Bank and Gaza working in Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem, Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah and Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza. He was accompanied by teams from Green Lane and Auckland's Starship Hospital. While Kerr was working, Hazel worked with children in refugee camps and at a school for deaf children teaching art and drama. The film The Doctor's Wife was released in 2025. He received the Palestine Medal of Honor in 2011 from Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president.

Kerr is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Selected works

Armishaw J, Gentles TL, Calder AL, Raudkivi PJ, Kerr AR. Transposition of the great arteries: operative outcome in the current era. N Z Med J. 2000 Nov 10;113(1121):456-9. PMID: 11194751.

Ruygrok PN, Barratt-Boyes BG, Agnew TM, Coverdale HA, Kerr AR, Whitlock RM. Aortic valve replacement in the elderly. J Heart Valve Dis. 1993 Sep;2(5):550-7. PMID: 8269166.

Kerr AR, Roche AH, Rutherford JD, Graham KJ. Coronary artery surgery. N Z Med J. 1984 Apr 25;97(754):274. PMID: 6587217.