Oʻahu Doctor Receives AIDS Services Award

Cecilia Shikuma, MD, received the 2018 Suzanne Richmond-Crum Award yesterday at the World AIDS Day ceremony in Honolulu. According to the Hawaiʻi State Department of Health, Shikuma was chosen to receive the award for her contributions to HIV/AIDS services in Hawai‘i.

For more than 30 years, Shikuma has served as a researcher, director, grant reviewer, mentor, clinical care provider, founder and consultant for local, national and international clinicians. As a professor at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, she helped establish an HIV clinic at the universityʻs school of medicine as well as the Hawai‘i Center for AIDS. Shikumaʻs work to promote HIV research in Hawai‘i has been recognized nationally and internationally.

Locally, Shikuma’s vision is for Hawai’i to be the first state to achieve an AIDS-free generation through the “Hawai‘i to Zero” initiative. Shikuma has been collaborating with DOH and AIDS service organizations throughout the state to further this goal.

“Dr. Shikuma has gone above and beyond the call of duty in making sure the care provided to patients in the Clint Spencer Clinic is state of the art,” said Dr. Bruce Shiramizu, MD, of the Hawai‘i Center for AIDS/Clint Spencer Clinic. “The impact of Dr. Shikuma’s efforts are evident in providing HIV-expertise on Hawai’i Island and Maui. Her untiring energy personifies the dedication that she lives for and for the causes she believes in. Her outstanding contributions in providing and improving HIV/AIDS care throughout Hawai‘i have benefited patients, partners, families, organizations and professionals.”

The award is given each year in memory of Suzanne Richmond-Crum, the former director of the Hawai‘i Seropositivity and Medical Management Program of DOH’s Harm Reduction Services Branch. According to the DOH, the award honors Richmond-Crumʻs exemplary work in providing HIV-related care and AIDS prevention services. Shikuma is the fifteenth award recipient.

More information on World AIDS Day in Hawai‘i can be found online.