Imi Ho‘ola Post-Baccalaureate Program expanded to meet physician shortage

HONOLULU—A program that helps college graduates from Hawai‘i and the Pacific overcome barriers to medical school is expanding at the University of Hawai‘i at M?noa’s John A. Burns School of Medicine.

The Imi Ho’ola Post-Baccalaureate Program is formally welcoming 12 students into its incoming class this Friday, July 30. The students will be presented at an Open House from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at UH’s Medical Education Building Auditorium in Kaka’ako.

Both Imi Ho‘ola and UH’s first-year medical student class are being expanded by two students in 2010 to help meet a greater demand for physicians in Hawai‘i.

Imi Ho‘ola, which translated from the Native Hawaiian language means “those who seek to heal,” recruits college graduates from socially, educationally, or economically disadvantaged backgrounds who show promise to become physicians serving the communities they come from. Participants spend 12 months in an intensive course of study to improve their knowledge of science and the humanities. Students who complete the challenging course are admitted to the UH medical school.

Now in its third decade, Imi Ho‘ola has helped to graduate 213 physicians, 40 percent of whom are Native Hawaiians. This year’s class includes 10 men and two women who are residents of Hawaii Island, Maui, Kaua‘i, Moloka‘i, O‘ahu, Guam, and Rota, which is a part of the Northern Mariana Islands. 

For more information, visit jabsom.hawaii.edu.