Pictured: Gayle Gilbert, retired JABSOM administrative assistant to the dean, first hired by Dr. Windsor Cutting in 1967, and former Dean of Students Ben Young, MD unveil Linus Chao’s portrait of JABSOM’s first Dean, Dr. Windsor Cutting.
The 2017 John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) Alumni Reunion (“Reconnect 2017) brought alumni and faculty, including retired faculty, to the JABSOM Kakaʻako campus on Saturday, July 22. The program included a morning full of lectures (Continuing Medical Education sessions about the history of island health care and of the University of Hawaiʻi medical school) and the unveiling of the first in a series of paintings commissioned of “Deans of JABSOM.”
The presentations:
The sessions included the introduction of special guests including former faculty of JABSOM. Topics of presentations included “Reflections on JABSOM’s Deans,” “After World War II: JABSOM’s Post-Graduate Program in Okinawa and an update on the Okinawa Program.” Also presented, “Current Geriatric Issues in Hawaiʻi,” “Improving the Health of Women in Uganda,” and “Reflections on a Major Change in the JABSOM Medical Curriculum- PBL,” by former JABSOM dean (appointed in 1989) and continuing Problem-Based Learning (PBL) preceptor Dr. Christian Gulbrandsen. Dr. Ben Young, former Dean of Students at JABSOM, musician and historian, traced the history of Native Hawaiian Health, Dr. S. Kalani Brady, Associate Professor of Native Hawaiian Health, spoke about his role as the “Physician Today at Kalaupapa,” and Jerris Hedges, MD, JABSOM’s Current Dean, gave an overview of the “Vision for the Future.”
The painting:
Hilo artist Linus Chao painted a campus-famous portrait of former Governor John A. Burns, which is displayed in the Office of the Dean. (The medical school is named after Governor Burns.) Chao was selected to paint the Deans, and began with the first Windsor Cutting, MD, who was appointed in 1965. Standing beside the oil portrait soon after its unveiling Chao, wearing a stylish grey fedora, was pleased when Cutting’s son, John Cutting, MD, proclaimed it an extremely satisfying depiction. Cutting praised the artist for capturing the “spirit” of the man.
