Members of the Department of Native Hawaiian Health at the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) gathered today in the garden where indigenous healing plants grow, to discuss the legacy of a revered kauka (Native Hawaiian physician). Kekuni Blaisdell, MD, who mentored and inspired every generation of students at the University of Hawai’i medical school, died of respiratory failure this morning (February 12, 20106) at The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu. He was 90 years old. Dr. Blaisdell, a graduate of the University of Chicago, was the founding Chair of Medicine at the University of Hawai’i (UH), joining its faculty in 1966 and serving as chair until 1969, and for the rest of his life as Professor, then Professor Emeritus.
Kekuni Blaisdell Remembered from UHMed on Vimeo.
Here, memories recalled today are interspersed with images and sound from the 2014 ceremony in which UH bestowed an honorary degree on Dr. Blaisdell. Our speakers are Department of Native Hawaiian Health faculty Mele Look (Director of Community Engagement), Kalani Brady, MD, (physician and Associate Professor) and Keawe’aimoku Kaholokula, PhD (Psychology), Professor and Chair of the Department of Native Hawaiian Health. Dr. Blaisdell was a leader in medicine, but also in social change, in efforts to achieve self-governance for the Native Hawaiian people.
Our video is by UH Med Now’s Amanda Shell.
Related Story:
A lasting legacy