The medical system in Hawaii, and specifically on the medically underserved island of Kauai, is poised to reap the benefits of an additional $10M donation from Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan.
It comes via a new fund being created at UH Manoa’s John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) specifically to create a training track for Kauai. There are currently 61 doctors needed on Kauai. Each year, six med students interested in rural medicine on Kauai and with connections to the islands will receive paid tuition and fees for all four years, plus transportation and lodging. The program lasts 6 years, which could add 36 doctors on the island.
UH’s president David Lassner, said, “We are tremendously grateful to Dr. Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg for their generous gift and commitment to our island’s community health. This gift will have a lasting ripple effect that will directly improve the health and wellness of Kauai’s families today, and in the future.”
Chan and Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement, “Expanding the medical community will help improve access to healthcare services for local residents—which is crucial to building a healthier community on Kauai. We’re honored to support the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaiʻi as they strive to address the physician shortage by creating a more robust pipeline of doctors.”
Kauai has good rural medicine, and attracts some great doctors who choose the island for its lifestyle. However, it severely lacks specialties. As a result, patients in need of those services are frequently sent off-island for care. — BOH
Previously Zuckerberg Donated $50 Million to Help Hawaii
The prior gift, announced in January by UH Manoa, of $50 Million, “Aims to Improve Hawaii’s Ocean Health.” It is a 7-year commitment to the UH Manoa SOEST Ocean Conservation Research. According to the UH, “the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) will leverage this gift to make meaningful progress in restoring Hawaiʻi’s ocean health.”
That gift comes just after it was reported that the University of Hawaii at Mānoa was ranked within the top 1% of all universities worldwide for academic, research excellence.
It is the largest cash gift ever to the university and will “fund research and programs that document changing ocean conditions, explore solutions to support healthier ocean ecosystems, enhance coastal resilience from storms and sea-level rise, and tackle challenges to marine organisms ranging from the tiniest corals to the largest predators.”
UH President David Lassner said when it was announced, “This transformative gift will enable our world-class experts to accelerate conservation research for the benefit of Hawaiʻi and the world. The ocean ecosystems that evolved over eons now face unprecedented threats from our growing human population and our behaviors. It is critical that we learn from previous generations who carefully balanced resource use and conservation. The clock is ticking, and we must fast-track not only our understanding of marine ecosystems and the impacts of climate change, but the actions we must take to reverse the devastation underway. There is no place on Earth better than Hawai‘i to do this work, and no institution better able than UH. We could not be more grateful for the investment of Dr. Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg in a better future for all of us and our planet.”
The Zuckerbergs’ commented, “Hawaii has one of the richest marine ecosystems in the world — and having a deeper understanding of this ecosystem is the key to preserving and protecting it. We’re honored to support the University of Hawaii’s conservation efforts, including their trailblazing research on coral reef restoration, the impact of climate change on coastal waters, and other areas related to the health of our oceans.”
The School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa is a world-class research and academic institution focused on informing solutions to some of the world’s most challenging problems. Through an integrated, comprehensive, and sustained system of Earth and planetary observations, research, and education, SOEST staff work to transform the way people live on Earth by enabling a healthy public, economy, and planet. This gift also funds critical efforts to inform the public, policymakers, and resource managers of ocean acidification and warming vulnerabilities.
Also, see:
Why Zuckerberg Kauai Empire Now Includes Tragedy and More Controversy.
Billionaires Bezos, Zuckerberg, Oprah, and Ellison Pony Up Big In Hawaii
Facebook’s Zuckerberg Provides Over $4M to Help Kauai
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Is the homeless problem, especially on lee side of Oahu, getting worse? Very unsightly and dangerous!
We would like a reply, please.
Thank you!
Hi Robert.
We can’t speak to that since are are not on Oahu. I’m sure someone who is will lend a hand to help answer your question.
Aloha.
This donation will not help Hawaii’s systemic problem with health care. Personally knowing 4 doctors the issue is with insurance payments, especially regarding “Quest” (Government assistance) patients which are the majority of patients in our community. Quest patients don’t have to pay a co-payment and doctors are only able to bill out at $30.00 an hour. The overhead is just too high. If doctors were payed as much as they are in the mainland, they’d be here.
I’m no fan of his against pretty much anything he does but he’s done more for Hawaii than any government hack or most of the people have done. I’ve watched some of the videos of the fight against cocoa palms rebuild and it was ridiculous. Most of these groups just want be paid off and fight against anything until they do. Just like the ones that fought against the super ferry who were basically hired guns for airline rental car and other industries.
So a private citizen does for Kauai what the government has failed to do and gets bashed.
Nice!
What makes some people think that way? He’s an American, he has the money (I don’t particularly like him), but it would be illegal to try to stop him from buying property on the market. Think about OAHU being acquired by multiple Japanese ventures in the 1970’s. Nobody stopped that and they weren’t even Americans! As long as Mark obeys zoning and development guidelines I see him as an asset. We should feel lucky that he’s spending his money here!
Zuckerberg is violating the height limits and is developing pod houses which the planning department has prevented other citizens on Kauai from doing. He is buying out the mayor and his executive assistance, the former planning director naturally, for pennies on the dollar. Receiving special building privileges that other people would be forced to have a public hearing for is ridiculous.
Like I said, I’m not a fan of his but do you have proof for that allegation?
I’m sure you’d love the proof…but if you know of any people working there (I do) they had to sign yet another non-discloser agreement. They can’t mention anything about Zuckerberg or that property. That being said, a friend of mine has arial footage that shows just that.
Why do I have the same gut feelinPetg ?
I can’t say I like where this money comes from, especially in the last few year but we’ll take it. As a 16 year resident and now senior citizen we desperately need doctors who will stay on island. Mahalo, Zuckerbergs!
Very nice…but at what cost to the Hawaiian people. Not that long ago he was trying to muscle his way onto the island, making people who’s families have live on the land for generations prove they belong there…
I find it hard to believe this won’t somehow benefit them more than it does the locals.
Muscle what? You have the money, you can buy the property. This is America! We don’t have birthright ownership of property! If you work hard and develop assets you too can own what you want. Smoking pakalolo and saying I have entitlement because of my ancestors never got me anything. My ancestors worked, too!
Yep all have land and huge properties on different islands!!
Alternate Headline: Zuckerberg throws some cash to distract as he buys up Kauai
Maybe he’s trying to garner support for closing Kauai to visitors other than himself, of course, so he can achieve more privacy.
Stop using Facebook then he won’t 🙂
Glad for UHM. And appreciate the gesture from the Zuckerbergs. If you are blessed with much, much is expected from you.