{"id":228438,"date":"2026-01-20T12:05:04","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T22:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=228438"},"modified":"2026-01-22T17:00:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T03:00:55","slug":"jabsom-annual-scholarship-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/20\/jabsom-annual-scholarship-dinner\/","title":{"rendered":"东精影业<\/abbr> medical school scholarships help keep future doctors in Hawaiʻi"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"student
A 东精影业<\/abbr> medical student greets Theresa Walczak, one of the many donors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More students from the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at M\u0101noa John A. Burns School of Medicine<\/a> (JABSOM<\/abbr>) are staying in or returning to Hawaiʻi<\/span> to practice medicine compared to 10 years ago, a trend school leaders credit to strong scholarship support.<\/p>\n

That success was celebrated at JABSOM<\/abbr>\u2019s Annual Scholarship Dinner on January 15, a special night that connects medical students with the donors helping make their dreams of becoming doctors possible.<\/p>\n

Today, 93% of JABSOM<\/abbr> students receive a scholarship, and 70 of those awards come with a service commitment. Students who accept those scholarships agree to serve Hawaiʻi<\/span> for a set period of time after graduation, helping address the state\u2019s ongoing physician shortage.<\/p>\n

“We have a tremendous physician shortage in the state so every graduate that we can retain in the state is a big plus for us,” said JABSOM<\/abbr> Dean Sam Shomaker. “Scholarships make that possible because we keep the cost of attendance of medical school very modest so careers in medicine are within reach for virtually any of our talented young people who want to have careers in medicine.”<\/p>\n

Community roots to real-world impact<\/h2>\n
\"two
JABSOM Dean Sam Shomaker and Quan Lac<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One student featured at the dinner was Quan Lac<\/a>, whose journey to medicine reflects resilience and dedication to his community. Born in Kalihi-Palama to Vietnamese immigrant parents, Quan cared for his grandmother through serious illness and balanced family responsibilities while pursuing school. He earned a full-tuition Kaiser Permanente Scholarship to attend JABSOM<\/abbr>, allowing him to focus on academics, research and service. Quan has also combined his passion for judo with research, examining concussion rates in youth judo to help make the sport safer.<\/p>\n

“This is the community I grew up in,” Quan said. “I want to give back to what brought me up, to leave a place better than I found it.”<\/p>\n

Like Quan, many JABSOM<\/abbr> scholarship students are inspired by the chance to serve Hawaiʻi<\/span> through their future medical careers.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m so passionate about serving the communities that grew me and that represent me, and so it\u2019s actually a huge blessing to be able to know that I\u2019ll be able to come back and serve in the community,” said JABSOM<\/abbr> student Madison Balish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More JABSOM<\/abbr> graduates are staying in Hawaiʻi<\/span> thanks to scholarships with service commitments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":228444,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[31,1466,572,319,9],"class_list":["post-228438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-john-a-burns-school-of-medicine","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-scholarship","tag-uh-foundation","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-jabsom-student-donor-Theresa-Walczak.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228438"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228586,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228438\/revisions\/228586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}