Second cohort of UH Kauaʻi Medical Training Track students meet island’s healthcare community

The second cohort of the UH Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine’s Kauaʻi Medical Training Track.

The second cohort of students with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine's (JABSOM) Kauaʻi Medical Training Track kicked off their first-year by meeting leaders of the Kauaʻi healthcare community at an event held at The Plantation House by Gaylords on August 18. 

The program was launched in 2022 and is funded by a $10 million commitment from Dr. Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg to help address the physician shortage and directly improve the health and wellness of Kaua‘i’s families, today and in the future.

This second annual event was an opportunity for the six first-year medical students to meet the island’s healthcare partners and to hear from a member of the inaugural cohort, which is starting its second year in the innovative program.

The second cohort’s first-year medical students are: Nicole Hada, Zackary Kon, Nikki Ooka, Kennedy-Kain Tamashiro, Darcy Tokunaga and Heather Zimmerman.

Through the Kaua‘i Medical Training Track, six JABSOM students, with ties to Kaua‘i or another neighbor island and/or a strong interest in rural health, are accepted into the program each year. The program funds tuition and fees for all four years, as well as transportation and lodging.

First year success

Dylan Lawton of the inaugural cohort, a second-year medical student who has family on Kauaʻi, told them that he was able to shadow two physicians, Dr. John Funai, a cardiologist, and Dr. Eugene Lao, a family medicine practitioner, during his three months on Kauaʻi last spring.

“Through my observations of these great physicians, I not only observed their compassion, and their care for residents, I was also able to ‘talk story’ with a lot of residents and really enjoyed learning about their livelihoods, their families and their hobbies,” Lawton told the audience. “I was also able to connect with them through my own Kauaʻi ʻohana and found that it’s such a small island that everyone knows everyone.”

In addition to Lawton, the members of the first cohort of returning second-year students are Brent Fujimoto, Jaime Emoto, Erin Evangelista, Ivana Yoon and Kirra Borrello.

“We’re really grateful to Priscilla and Mark, JABSOM, Hawaiʻi Pacific Health and all others who made this amazing opportunity possible,” Lawton said. “We’re especially grateful to the Kauaʻi community for welcoming us with open arms into their homes and being able to serve.”