Mr Gallagher (18), of Balfour, is passionate about becoming a surgeon, and will this year take the Foundation Studies course towards achieving that dream.
"When I was 12, I had a heart operation," he said.
"I had rheumatic fever, and it stopped one of my valves working, and they had to operate."
This childhood experience has left more than just physical marks on Mr Gallagher.
"I want to study medicine after heath sciences, and hopefully become a surgeon."
Mr Gallagher was a pupil at Northern Southland College, where he studied some of his courses by correspondence.
He passed all his subjects and matriculated to university.
This year, Mr Gallagher will become one of 13 people to receive a Tu Kahika study award.
The Tu Kahika awards are an initiative by the University of Otago, administered for the first time in 2010, and next month Mr Gallagher will have the opportunity to study the science stream of Foundation Studies at Otago free of fees and part of his accommodation costs.
The awards are for Maori students who intend to progress with studies in the health sciences.
Simon Chu, the Academic Dean of Foundation Year, said young Maori were underrepresented in the health sciences, and the focus of the programme was on giving young Maori the chance to be competitive in the course.
Pia Gallagher, Mr Gallagher's mother, is pleased with her son's achievements.
"Just getting him into uni is a big deal. Going any further than that is a bonus," she said.
"We've got cousins that have gone to uni, but within my family he's the first, so we are really rapt."
