In his role as director, Dr Hill had overseen considerable expansion of the practice in recent years as well as the development of some innovative programmes.
Earlier, Dr Hill practised at the Palmerston Health Centre and had been a resident doctor at Dunedin Hospital. He was a Fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners and a teacher for that college.
Dr Hill was also a trustee of the Southern Primary Health Organisation, which presided over the merger of nine PHOs into a single PHO covering the Otago-Southland region, providing primary care to 280,000 patients.
The institute said in a statement the selection committee was impressed with Dr Hill's willingness to bring his medical background, along with a commitment to good governance, to the board table.
Dr Hill said last night good governance was critical in the changing environment of primary health care.
"I have a growing interest in learning more about this and applying the principles to assist improvements in this sector of the economy."
Dr Helen Darling, founder and chief executive officer of Oritain Global Ltd, as well as one of its directors, was named runner-up. Oritain is pioneering systems for the commercial certification of food.
