Message from the Dean

Dean Jerris Hedges

Aloha from the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa!

We are pleased by your interest. We are very proud of our beautiful waterfront campus in Kaka’ako, cutting-edge laboratories, innovative programs and our outstanding faculty, staff and students.

The Hawai’i State Legislature’s commitment to a medical school for the people of Hawai‘i was strengthened when lawmakers approved use of tobacco "Master Settlement Agreement" funds to build and help operate the oceanfront campus of the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM). The campus, a site chosen by Governor Ben Cayetano, opened in 2005. We proudly educate our students and the people of Hawai‘ì about the dangers of smoking and we treat those suffering from tobacco-related disease.

Our students are the best and brightest Hawai’i and the Pacific Islands have to offer. More than 1,500 applicants annually compete for 66 slots in the first-year class. Our graduates score above average in US medical licensing exams. Moreover, we are the most culturally and ethnically diverse medical school in the world, and our student body mirrors the diversity of Hawai'i’s population.

Our primary mission is to train physicians for Hawai'i and the Pacific, and we are proud that approximately 50% of the practicing physicians in Hawai'i are graduates or faculty members of the John A. Burns School of Medicine or affiliated Hawai’i Residency Programs.

We have a faculty of 200 full-time and more than 1,000 volunteers and a teaching relationship with all major community hospitals throughout the main Hawaiian island of O'ahu. Our students learn in an innovative, student-centered, problem-based curriculum, (PBL) that emphasizes critical thinking, medical simulation-based experiences and builds life-long learning skills.

Students at the John A. Burns School of Medicine may be candidates for the Doctor of Medicine (MD); graduate degrees of Master of Public Health (MPH), Master of Science (MS) or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in basic science, epidemiology or clinical research; Master’s Degree in Communication Sciences Disorders; or Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Technology. The University of Hawai’i Cancer Center has been built next door to us on the Kaka’ako campus.

Our school opened as a two-year institution in 1965, and became a four-year medical school in 1973. As you navigate our website at http://jabsom.hawaii.edu, we hope you will find answers to frequently asked questions about student qualifications, application procedures and the work of our 16 departments and outstanding faculty.

If you need further assistance, you may contact my office at any time at (808) 692-0881.

Aloha,