As a testament to its deep roots across the islands, the University of Hawaiʻi at 惭ā苍辞补 (JABSOM) has been honored with the Spencer Foreman Award for Outstanding Community Engagement from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). This national recognition spotlights JABSOM’s dedication to Hawaiʻi—from rapid disaster response and compassionate care for individuals experiencing homelessness to vital neighbor island outreach and empowering local student programs.
“We are so connected to this community,” said JABSOM Dean Sam Shomaker. “It starts with our medical students, 90% of whom come from this state, and they have a sense of service to this place that raised them and that flows through everything we do at JABSOM.”
JABSOM continues to actively recruit more students from public high schools and neighbor islands to build a diverse physician workforce capable of serving the entire state’s population.
Small school, national recognition
JABSOM Office of Medical Education Director Jill Omori noted the award recognizes the collective work across the medical school.
Since 1965, JABSOM has trained more than 3,000 physicians
“We’re all the way out here, we’re a very small school and sometimes it’s hard to compete with the big fish in the ocean,” she said. It’s nice to know that [we] can be recognized for something like this–it really does show our commitment to the community, and hopefully future students or even future faculty will want that kind of environment for themselves and think about coming to JABSOM,” she said.
Since 1965, JABSOM has trained more than 3,000 physicians, with about half of Hawaiʻi’s practicing physicians having graduated from JABSOM or serving on its faculty.
“We do important work at JABSOM,” said Shomaker. “Not only training the next generation of physicians, but the research, the community outreach that we do, we are woven into the fabric of this community that no other medical school that I’m aware of, is woven into the community it serves.”