Dr. Francis Pien graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a BA from Johns Hopkins, received his medical degree from the University of Chicago, and did his Internal Medicine internship at the University of Illinois. He then spent the next three years at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester completing his Internal Medicine residency and a fellowship in Microbiology. This was followed by a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Stanford University. He earned Master’s degrees in Microbiology from the University of Minnesota and in Public Health/International Health from Johns Hopkins. He put his extensive training to good use by sharing his wealth of knowledge through decades of teaching students and residents. He provided didactic lectures as well as clinical electives. He won numerous UH teaching awards. His list of publications is extensive; many contain shared authorship with his former students and residents reflecting his strong mentorship in research. He won numerous Straub Excellence in Research awards. Those of us who have done rotations with him have memory of his wall of files crammed with journal articles that he read, quoted and distributed continuously. When traveling he would take stacks of journals in his suitcases.
Dr. Pien served as the Associate Program Director for the University of Hawaii Integrated Medical Residency Program from 1977 - 1990. He served as Chief of Infectious Diseases until he retired from the paid faculty in 1993. He rejoined the clinical faculty in the Dept of Medicine in 2002. He also held an appointment as Clinical Professor in the Department of Tropical Medicine.
From 1974 - 2001, Dr. Pien worked at Straub Clinic providing clinical care in Infectious Diseases, overseeing the Microbiology lab and Infection Control. In 2001, he started his private practice of Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine. He provided Infection Control consultant services for a number of institutions including Leahi Hospital, Kahuku Hospital, Wahiawa General Hospital and Hilo Medical Center. He served as a clinical microbiology consultant for Clinical Laboratory of Hawaii. He literally worked until the onset of his final acute illness.
Dr. Pien’s community service activities were extensive. He was a member of multiple Boards including Rehab Hospital of the Pacific, Straub Clinic and Hospital, Hawaii Independent Physicians Association, Interfaith Hospital Chaplaincy Ministry and Samaritan Counseling Center. He was known to hand out cash at times to patients who could not afford their antibiotics.
Dr. Pien was internationally recognized. He was a member of the 1978 NIH funded Delegation of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene to Mainland China. In 1990 he was an Exchange Professor at the University of Osaka School of Medicine. In 2017, he started annual medical missions in Ethiopia as Professor of Microbiology and Pharmacology, Myungsung Medical College in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Dr. Pien’s career in Medicine and his life cast a wide net that stretched from our local community and around the globe. He was a learned and inspirational teacher and mentor to many. He was a tireless clinician who never turned down a consult and did not believe in the Duty Hours. He leaves a legacy of the spirit of inquiry, an appreciation of the research endeavor and mindfulness and preservation of medical resources. He raised three sons, two of whom, Brian and Ethan are active practicing physicians in ID and Psychiatry, respectively. He lived his life with generous Christian values and this strong faith gave him a peaceful final passage.
