Six new kauka ʻopio (young physicians) of Native Hawaiian ancestry recently entered the medical community as graduates of the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at ²Ñ¨¡²Ô´Ç²¹’s (JABSOM) Class of 2018.
The honored JABSOM‘s six newest Native Hawaiian doctors: David Bailey, Nina Beckwith, Leimomi Kanagusuku, Nohea Leatherman-Arkus, Monika Young and former Kahuku Red Raider and New Mexico State football player Quinlinn Adolpho.
The at JABSOM and ʻAhahui o n¨¡ Kauka sponsor the annual ceremony, when Native Hawaiian doctors are honored and cloaked with a k¨©hei, a Hawaiian garment worn over one shoulder. Each k¨©hei, adorned by using traditional Hawaiian techniques, displays the prints and colors unique to each graduate’s individual journey into medicine.
JABSOM continues to be the nation’s only accredited medical school with a clinical department dedicated to the health of an indigenous people of the U.S.
—By Deborah Manog Dimaya