Two other students, Annie Stevenson and Gisela Kristono, were absent.
Otago Medical School dean and health sciences pro-vice-chancellor Prof Peter Crampton said that further research was "critical" to improving healthcare for patients and the community and improving health service efficiency.
Yesterday’s function marked an important commitment by the honours students, who were taking a year away from their usual medical student education to pursue research intensively.
Patients and the community had rising expectations of improved health care and doctors were also "strongly driven by the desire" to make further improvements. Students taking part in the honours programme were also contributing to the future medical education workforce, he said.