01/19/2024
We are so proud of our very own Dr. Genia Taitano who is a recipient of the coveted HELP award. Dr. Taitano is a Chamorro physician who grew up on the remote island of Rota, the southernmost of the Northern Mariana Islands, where access to health care was severely limited.
Dr. Taitano successfully completed the ʻImi Hoʻōla program and graduated from JABSOM in 2016. The HELP award helped her to realize her goal to practice in a rural community, where she could raise her family. After completing a surgical critical care residency training at the University of Hawaiʻi (UH) as well as a colorectal fellowship in Columbus, Ohio, Taitano now calls Hawaiʻi Island home, where she is primarily employed by Alii Health, a nonprofit healthcare organization whose mission is to provide the best possible care for the West Hawaiʻi community in collaboration and support of Kona Community Hospital.
Congratulations, Dr. Taitano for being a role model for all Pacific Islander students who strive to enter medicine and improve the health of their communities!