UH med school
makes progress

State commitment convinces a committee
to restore accreditation

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By Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.com

The University of Hawaii John A. Burns Medical School has regained full accreditation.

Samuel Shomaker, the school's associate dean of academic affairs and education, said he, medical Dean Edwin Cadman and two others from the school went to Washington about three weeks ago and "presented our case" to the Liaison Committee on Medical Education.

"To our happiness and delight, they found things in our favor and removed the threat of probation (Oct. 23)," he said.

Shomaker said the accreditation committee was worried about a number of things, including the state's commitment in terms of supporting the medical school.

He said the school's team emphasized the $150 million bond issue the state authorized to build a new medical school at Kakaako and support from UH President Evan Dobelle for new positions.

He said the committee also was worried about the number of faculty, especially in some basic science areas.

"We showed them we are recruiting a number of new faculty and working to address that problem," Shomaker said.

He said Cadman was promised 30 new state-funded tenure positions when he took the dean's job.

Eleven people have been hired, and others will be recruited over a five-year period.

Shomaker said the committee will return in 18 months "to make sure we're still on track. We'll have to show them we're continuing to make progress in these areas, and we're confident we can do that."

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University of Hawaii