Pictured: Members of the JABSOM Graduating Class of 2018 celebrate after finding out which Residency training programs they “matched” to on Match Day. Deborah Manog Dimaya Photo.
By Deborah Manog Dimaya, UH Med Now
Hawaiʻi’s newest doctors are about to graduate and more than half of the University of Hawaiʻi Medical School Class of 2018 have chosen to continue their training on the front lines of medicine. Over 60% of the new doctors will begin their careers in primary care or primary contact specialties.
Teresa Choe, from Kona on Hawaiʻi island, is going into Emergency Medicine. She hopes to become a beacon of hope for patients who wind up in the ER.
“A lot of people, they don’t want to be in the emergency room,” said Choe, who will do her Residency training in New York. (Emergency Medicine specialty training is not available in Hawai’i.)
“To have the opportunity to meet them there on one of the worst days of their lives and to be able to serve them in that setting is an extreme privilege,” said Choe.
Nina Beckwith of Kailua will stay in Hawaiʻi to begin her Residency training at the UH Family Medicine Program. A former science teacher at Wai’anae Intermediate School, Beckwith finds satisfaction in the prospect of treating an entire family of patients.
“We can take care of women who are pregnant and follow them through their pregnancy, deliver their baby, and then eventually maybe become the pediatrician for the baby we delivered,” said Beckwith.
Leimomi Kanagusuku, of Waiʻanae, also finds joy in caring for all patients of all ages.
“You get to treat kids, older patients, you get to deal with OB-GYN, a little bit of surgery so it has that variety that really makes your day special,” said Kanagusuku, who will begin her Residency training at the UH Family Medicine Program.
In this video from JABSOM, we also hear from 2018 graduates who have selected Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Radation Oncology and Anesthesia, and they describe what led them to choose those specialties.
Read the video transcript.
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