UH Med Now - Native Hawaiian

Ahead of Sunday’s Convocation, nine Native Hawaiian graduates of the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) marked their transition from medical students to physicians at this yearʻs Kīhei Ceremony. The ceremony, usually celebrated in the school’s Māla Lāʻau Lapaʻau, was moved to the Medical Education Building auditorium due to weather concerns. But that didn’t […]

Dr. Kanoe Quibelan is a third-year resident of the University of Hawaiʻi Family Medicine Residency Program. She is a 2016 alumna of the Imi Ho’ola Post-Baccalaureate Program and received her MD from the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) in 2020. As Quibelan is preparing to graduate from residency in June 2023, she shares […]

Our colleague, mentor, friend and physician leader, Emmett Aluli, was a kanaka oʻiwi to the core and as we remember all the facets of his life and the contributions he left to everyone, we would like to remember Emmett through the lens of what he meant to our kauka (medical doctors) and to the institution […]

*This tribute to Dr. Thomas J. Whelan was written by Dr. Noa Emmett Aluli and originally published in the Hawaii Medical Journal, November 1999, Volume 57. No. 11 special memorial issue. Ha ʻalele koa wa ʻa, i koa kanaka he koa canoe has departed leaving the warriors behind E ho ‘opiha i ka makalua i […]

The Aluli ʻohana statement: “He pioneered a distinctively Native Hawaiian approach to health care in rural Hawaiian communities that he modeled for medical students who shadowed him. He believed that each patient’s health and well-being needed to be understood in the context of their ʻohana, their genealogy, their lifestyle, and their ʻāina. He shared the […]

“As a Native Hawaiian, it’s so easy to feel like you don’t belong in the field of medicine,” Bree Kaneakua, a fourth-year medical student at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, said. “It’s such an intimidating field for anyone. It’s challenging. So to feel like you don’t belong in 99% of the rooms you’re […]