Two Maui County Students Among Imi Ho’ola Graduates

By Wendy Osher

Watanabe, Chow, Ricalde, de Jesus, Taitano, Gonsalves. Courtesy photo, UH.

A group of six aspiring physicians earned Post-Baccalaureate degrees from the Imi Ho’ola program at the University of Hawaii (UH), Mānoa, John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM).

The Imi Ho’ola (translated as those who seek to heal) program is part of the medical school’s Department of Native Hawaiian Health.  Students who complete the year-long intensive medical school preparation program earn a place in the next class of MD students at UH.

This year’s graduates include two students from Maui County: Kaimana Chow of Kaunakakai, Molokai, and Steven Gonsalves of Kahului, Maui.

Others included in the graduating class were: Emmanuel deJesus of Honolulu, O’ahu,  Kyle Watanabe of Mililani, O’ahu, Aldrich Ricalde of Ewa Beach, O’ahu, and Genia Taitano of Rota in the Northern Mariana Islands.

The 2011 Imi Ho’ola graduates will join 60 other incoming medical students at next month’s White Coat Ceremony on July 22 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort, where the entire class will be presented with white coats, identifying them as medical students.

The incoming class of 66 students, is the largest single class ever for the John A. Burns School of Medicine.

*** Supporting information courtesy University of Hawai’i.