The School opened in 1967 as a two-year program of basic medical sciences, and became a four-year degree granting program in 1973. It was relocated to the Manoa Campus upon completion of the new Biomedical Sciences Building in 1971. The first class of 61 MD's graduated in 1975. Since then, 1987 individuals have received their MD degrees from JABSOM. Over 50% of practicing physicians in the State are graduates of the MD program or one of our residency programs.

Many prestigious private foundations as well as the U.S. and foreign governments have provided generous grants and funding over the years. This distinguished list includes the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Pew Memorial Trust, and the Queen Emma Foundation, just to name a few.

In 1992, a Harvard University study of the nature and scope of medical education reforms in the United States and Canada identified the John A. Burns School of Medicine as one of ten "... leaders in the reform and improvement of medical education."

Accreditation

JABSOM is accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) of the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Council on Medical Education of the American Medical Association.

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JABSOM's Mission & Distinctive Features

The School's basic mission is to teach and train high-quality physicians, biomedical scientists, and allied health workers for Hawai‘i and the Pacific. Its major purpose is to provide an opportunity for a medical education previously unavailable to residents of Hawai‘i and other Pacific nations.

Some unique features of the School's M.D. program include its Problem-Based Learning curriculum (PBL; see Medical Education), and community-based medicine program. In addition, clinical instruction is accomplished in affiliated community hospitals and clinics. The benefits of this approach are several: it is more economical; students from the start are thrust into the real world of day-to-day clinical activity; and working directly within the community involves extensive participation of community physicians and other health professionals in the training of future physicians.

In addition to the M.D. program, graduate training programs are available leading to the M.P.H., D.P.H., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in the basic medical sciences and health related fields, as well as training in two undergraduate programs in Medical Technology and Speech Pathology and Audiology. The School also provides graduate medical education (GME; see Residency Programs) in community hospitals which are accredited as University of Hawai‘i Medical School residency programs.

Our mid-Pacific location, ties the Pacific island nations and Southeast Asia, and the State's multi-ethnic, multi-cultural population all combine to give the School its distinctive flavor and opportunities. JABSOM is the most culturally and ethnically diverse medical school in the country, and its student body mirrors the rich diversity of the State's population. The School has always and will continue to play a historical role in expanding opportunities for women, minorities, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders, and the socio-economically disadvantaged. Programs such as Imi Ho‘ola ("Those who seek to heal", see Programs-Imi Ho‘ola ) and the Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence have dramatically increased the number of under-represented minorities and disadvantaged physicians in the community.

Advanced medical and biomedical research constitutes another core component of the school's mission and began as an outgrowth of the University's Pacific Biosciences Research Center. It has received international recognition for pioneering work in human fertility, human heredity, comparative genetics, evolution theory, infectious disease, pharmacology, and cross cultural Psychiatry, among other fields. Its work on the better understanding of Hansen's Disease is part of Hawai‘i's legacy to the world. More recently, it has made contributions in AIDS, in Kawasaki's Disease, and the epidemiology of heart disease. It is also affiliated with the University of Hawai‘i Cancer Research Center. In 1998, JABSOM researcher Dr. Ryuzo Yanagimachi and his team of scientists made history with the announcement of the Honolulu Technique for cloning mice. The School's primary investigative focus over the decades has been in those areas for which it is ideally qualified by geography and population.

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The Future

As we begin the next millennium, JABSOM embarks on one of the most ambitious goals ever attempted by one school: to help bring modern medicine into the 21st century and beyond. This required the formation of a broad multi-front, multi-disciplinary partnership that seeks new approaches and perspectives. It means the restructuring - and even replacement - of statist views and methodologies. It requires new curricula geared more toward meaningful clinical experiences and community involvement. It means conducting research to address community health needs. It involves integrating education, research and service to enhance the health of the people of Hawai‘i and the Pacific Basin.

In short, a new medicine to correct the growing deficiencies of the health care sector and to meet the challenge of the medical schools of the future.

The challenge is being met today at the John A. Burns School of Medicine.

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