Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence : University of Hawai`i

John A. Burns School of Medicine
University of Hawai`i

651 Ilalo St., Honolulu, HI 96813

E komo mai! Welcome to the University of Hawai'i School of Medicine's Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence (NHCOE) Homepage. The NHCOE's mission is to improve the health of indigenous Hawaiians through research, education, service and training of Native Hawaiians in medicine.

The Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence (NHCOE) at the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) began in 1991 funded by a grant from the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The creation of the NHCOE allowed the consolidation of over 25 years of programs for minorities into coordinated, comprehensive effort to increase the number of Native Hawaiians practicing medicine. Currently, of the 2,500 practicing physicians in Hawai`i, only, 5.5% is Native Hawaiian while roughly 20% of Hawai`i's population is Native Hawaiian.

In November 2002, The NHCOE received an endowment of $4.6 million from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NHCOE will use the award to research Health Disparities amongst Native Hawaiians. A research director will be appointed to develop a strong research program focused on health disparities.

Recruitment
The NHCOE works with Native Hawaiian students who are interested in pursuing a career in medicine. Through presentations and various health related activities, the NHCOE works with primary school through college students to establish an interest in health and medicine. In order to help college students with the arduous and sometimes stressful application to medical school, the NHCOE offers Medical College Admissions Test study sessions, assistance with the application process and mock interviews.

Recruitment activities were an important part of the NHCOE prior to recent budget cuts. In the past, we worked with Native Hawaiian students who were interested in pursuing careers in medicine. Presentations and various health related activities were utilized in working with primary school through college age students in attempting to establish an interest in health and medicine. The AHEC (Area Health Education Center) here at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, as well as the Manoa HCOP (Health Careers Opportunity Program), are now responsible for recruitment activities. You can contact them by accessing their websites:

Retention
Retention activities in the past supported Native Hawaiian students and residents. These activities are now part of the Office of Student Affairs at the John A. Burns School of Medicine. JABSOM's retention specialist provides evaluations and support activities. Our recent efforts in this area involved support for board review courses.

Faculty Development
The NHCOE is interested in increasing the number of Native Hawaiian faculty at the Medical School. We offer a one to two year post graduate fellowship training program which is designed to introduce physicians to scholarly activities such as teaching, curriculum development, research, grant writing and academic leadership skills. In addition, we offer faculty development seminars for both clinical and medical school faculty. These seminars target our Native Hawaiian faculty especially, and focus on increasing knowledge about Native Hawaiian health problems, issues such as cultural competency, as well as related research and programs. For a list of the conferences and workshops that have been offered, please click on...

Curriculum Development
In order for physicians to be able to effectively serve the diverse ethnic population in Hawai'i, the NHCOE was involved in introducing Native Hawaiian health issues into the JABSOM Problem-Based Learning curriculum. The goal was to insure that all JABSOM students are aware of Native Hawaiian health issues. Recent efforts have focused on introducing sessions on traditional Hawaiian healing into a medical school elective

Research
This objective aims at encouraging Native Hawaiians to develop research skills and to conduct research on Native Hawaiian Health care issues. A mentor/mentee relationship between Native Hawaiian students and faculty involved in health and medical research is an important component of the research objective.

We hope you find our website useful and informative. If you have any additional information about Native Hawaiian Health activities, suggestions or comments on the NHCOE webpage, or know of Native Hawaiian health practitioners, please e-mail us or leave a note in our Guestbook. Mahalo.

If you would like to help the Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence in its endeavors, a tax deductible donation can be made to: