Renowned pediatrician and infectious disease specialist Marian Melish has spent five decades shaping medicine in Hawaiʻi, from groundbreaking discoveries to mentoring generations of physicians. Now at 84, as a professor of pediatrics, she continues to research, write and teach at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.
“Mostly, I am a working doctor with her eyes open because all of my experiences have started from cases,” said Melish, whose sharp observations as a clinician led to major medical milestones.
She is known for diagnosing the first case of Kawasaki Disease in Hawaiʻi, helping establish the first international research group on the disease, and contributing to the discovery of its treatment in 1984, still in use today. She also made key advances in understanding Staphylococcal Scalded Skin Syndrome and was at the forefront of Hawaiʻi’s COVID-19 response.
Unexpected landing, timely opportunity
“I never expected to be in Honolulu as it happened,” she recalled. “My husband (John) was drafted in the Vietnam War, and instead of getting sent to Vietnam, we got off the plane in Honolulu, and he became a physician at Tripler for three years.”
Both later joined JABSOM as it transitioned to a four-year accredited program. Melish said the school’s creation raised healthcare standards statewide.
“So to me, the coming of the (four-year) medical school has brought much higher standards, and I think that we do practice medicine to the level of the state of the art here. And in some ways, we exceed the state of the art.”
She also credits Hawaiʻi’s collaborative spirit for advancing her work. “The culture here values hard work, and it allows people to work together,” Melish said.
Despite concerns about declining federal support for research, Melish remains undeterred. “I like what I do, and I am not that interested in stopping,” she said. “You want them to be the best doctors they can be, but you also want them to be curious about what they can do to further the science.”
