MEDIA RELEASE

To address a worsening physician shortage, the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s John A. Burns School of Medicine is proud to announce its incoming class of medical students will be its largest ever.

The new “Class of 2014” was presented Friday, July 16 in a ceremony at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort. This year’s entering class is the first to be increased in years, despite cuts in state funding to the medical school.

The decision to increase the class size to 64 (from 62) was announced earlier this year. The new class begins its studies next week. There are four MD classes training at one time at the UH medical school, for an annual total of more than 250 medical students.

Earlier this month, data was presented at a physician workforce summit showing Hawaii is at least 600 physicians short of the number who should be practicing here, based on the state’s population. The shortage could double or triple by 2020.

Aggravating that situation, 25 percent of Hawaii’s current working physicians are at or near retirement age. During the White Coat Ceremony on Friday, the members of the incoming class formally received the shorter-length white coats that identify them as medical students. They also were led in a recitation of the physician’s creed, the Hippocratic Oath.

Some quick facts about the Class of 2014:

* The 64 students are an elite group: They were chosen from more than 1,600 people who applied to the UH medical school this year.

* 90 percent of the incoming class are Hawaii residents; 85 percent of the class attended high school in Hawaii.

* Five are from the Big Island and one is from Kauai, rural islands where the need for new physicians is greatest.

* 52 percent of the class is women.

* The students range in age from 24 to 31, with 24 the average age.

* Eighteen of this year’s students received degrees from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, two attended UH-Hilo, and the others hold degrees from institutions which include Yale University, Columbia University, Boston University, and the University of California at Berkeley.

* In addition to holding bachelor’s degrees in science or the arts, the incoming medical students include young men and women who earned advanced degrees in business, education, pharmacy and public health.

The John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), UH Manoa, named for a visionary governor, was established in 1965 and has trained more than 4,500 medical doctors through its MD or residency programs. Half of Hawaii’s practicing physicians are faculty members or graduates of JABSOM or the Hawaii Residency Programs.

JABSOM also trains public health professionals. More than 3,500 MPH, MS, DrPH and PhD degrees have been awarded from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. In 2010, JABSOM’s programs in Geriatric and Rural Medicine ranked in the United State’s Top 25 medical programs, according to US News & World Report.

— Find out more:
JABSOM: http://jabsom.hawaii.edu