What's Happening at JABSOM
Joseph Keawe'aimoku Kaholokula, PhD, elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Kaholokula is believed to be the first Native Hawaiian elected to the NAM and cites him for "pioneering evidence-based interventions using Indigenous cultural values and practices to improve cardiovascular, diabetes, and obesity disparities for thousands of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NH/PI). He spans science and practice, provides direction to health care systems serving NH/PI, advocates for NH/PI, and develops NH/PI scientists."
Teresa Schiff-Elfalan, MD, is breaking new ground at JABSOM as the she becomes the first to represent JABSOM as a Macy Faculty Scholar. Designed to identify and nurture the careers of promising educators in medicine and nursing, Schiff-Elfalan was one of five scholars selected from a field of 68 applicants for the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Faculty Scholar program. Macy Faculty Scholars receive salary support up to $100,000 per year over two years to implement an educational scholarly project in their institution and participate in a program of career development activities.
Dr. Alexander Stokes, an Associate Professor in JABSOM's Cell and Molecular Biology Department, is at the forefront of this effort, pioneering research that integrates intersex perspectives and experiences into scientific and healthcare innovations. While their intersex research is at the forefront of this effort, Dr. Stokes also oversees a diverse portfolio of grants and projects, including NSF S-STEM, NSF BSCER, the NSF INCLUDES Alliance (as Co-PI), and the NSF EPSCoR and NSF SCIPE programs (as Key Personnel). Building on three recent NIH awards, they have also secured a second NIH AIM AHEAD grant of $500,000, supporting groundbreaking projects nationally.
Ryan, Hiroshi "Keli'i" Shontell, PhD, a JABSOM medical student, and Taparra Lab, deliver research underscoring importance of data disaggregation. Immediately after receiving his PhD in 2023, Shontell sought mentorship from Kekoa Taparra, MD, PhD, MPH, and began to work with a large network of individuals that make up the Taparra Lab, whose mission is rooted in exposing indigenous invisibility by emphasizing the existence of NHPI populations in scientific research and health data collection. He and the Taparra Lab also wrote an editorial in JAMA, "Race Disaggregation and Racial and Ethnic Disparities in US Youth Mortality", as a companion piece to their recent publication.
The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has received a prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) award to launch the Pacific Computational Genomics and Data Sciences (CGDS) Research Education Program. Led by Dr. Youping Deng and Dr. Yiqiang Zhang both professors at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, this is a first-of-the-kind NIH program in Hawaiʻi. It aims to broaden and transform educational opportunities in Hawaiʻi and the wider Pacific by using a novel curriculum to train diverse and underrepresented students and community learners in computational genomics and data science.
Minority Health Research Training (MHRT) Program Doubles in Participation: In 2023, six students joined the MHRT program as global travel restrictions were lifted. The John A. Burns School of Medicine's Minority Health Research Training (MHRT) Program has since seen a rapid increase in interest. This year, 12 students successfully completed the Health Disparities program, which is housed in JABSOM's Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology & Pharmacology. MRHT is an NIH-funded program that engages undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, and graduate students from any discipline in national or international mentored research projects in tropical medicine, infectious diseases, community research, and related health sciences.
National News & Features
Nov 2024 - AAMC - Dismantling racism in medicine will take fortitude and intentionality
June 2024 - AAMC - Diversity in Medical School Admissions: On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) ruled on two cases — Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina — concerning the consideration of an applicant’s race or ethnicity in the higher education admissions process. The lower courts in both cases had upheld the schools’ processes. The Supreme Court reversed the lower courts’ decisions in both cases. While the Harvard and UNC decision and recent local anti-DEI legislation have restricted prior means of diversifying the health care workforce, many viable avenues remain to remove obstacles and increase opportunities for people historically underrepresented in medicine. The AAMC remains committed to strengthening the diversity of the medical student body and the physician workforce as we navigate the changing legal landscape. Read more about the Supreme Court’s decision in SFFA v. Harvard and UNC:
April 2024 - AAMC - AAMC endorses resolution recognizing the importance of DEI in medical education. Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), co-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus' Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force, and Congresswoman Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), co-chair of the Congressional Academic Medicine Caucus, introduced a resolution recongizing the improtance of DEI in medical education.
Sept 2021 - STAT - How White Scholars are Colonozing Research o Health Disparities