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Pictured: The office staff pose with Dr. Uohara in the new UHP clinic.
Alumni Newsletter:
Last month, Hilo celebrated the establishment of the medical school’s first permanent clinic outside of O’ahu. The clinic features faculty physicians of JABSOM’s Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health (OB/GYN) and offers services across the spectrum in the field.
The goal of the practice is to improve access to women’s care, especially in the face of growing OB/GYN physician shortages, provide subspecialty care so patients do not need to travel for gynecological surgery to Honolulu, improve health outcomes, decrease patient costs and create a sustainable clinical learning environment for medical students and OB/GYN residents in strong partnership with Hilo Medical Center and community stakeholders.
The new clinic is operated by University Health Partners (UHP) and staffed by JABSOM assistant clinical professor Dr. Emilie Stickley. She joins UHP’s first full-time faculty member in Hilo, Dr. Kareem Khozaim, assistant clinical professor, who practices at the Bay Clinic in Hilo.
Dr. John Uohara, who formerly saw patients for 39 years, is now the Hilo-based OB/GYN Specialist Division Chief and is overseeing efforts on Hawai’i Island to address local community needs for general OB/GYN and specialized care.
The most recent Hawaiʻi Physician Workforce Assessment shows that Hawaiʻi Island has only 75% of the primary care physicians its population requires.
“That is why our expansion into Hawaiʻi Island is so important,” said Dean Hedges. “The island gains two physicians who are skilled in a service shortage area, OB/GYN, while also providing a place in Hilo where doctors still training in OB/GYN at the University of Hawai’i can come to learn first-hand the skills necessary to work in a unique rural health care setting.”
