UH medical school wins appeal, keeps its accreditation intact

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

The national body that accredits medical schools has given the University of Hawai'i John A. Burns School of Medicine a clean bill of health, rescinding a decision in April to place the school on probation.

"We're delighted with the decision to rescind their recommendation for probation," said medical school dean Edwin Cadman. "They voted to fully accredit us.

"Now that this is behind us, we can focus on developing the new school in Kaka'ako and recruiting new faculty and outstanding students."

The decision by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education came in the wake of an appeal by Cadman and three staff members who flew to Washington, D.C., three weeks ago for a hearing on the case.

If the appeal had failed, the medical school could have faced probation and, eventually, loss of accreditation.

Sam Shomaker, vice dean for the school, said the major factors that swung the decision were the state's commitment of the $150 million bond authorization to build the new facility in Kaka'ako and the university's commitment of 30 new faculty positions, made to Cadman as part of his recruiting package when he was hired away from Yale-New Haven Hospital three years ago.

So far 11 of those faculty positions have been filled and the school is recruiting for the remaining 19, which will be filled over the next two years.

"The dean did a good job of convincing the LCME that we're on a positive trajectory and things were going in the right direction," said Shomaker.

"We said that the probation wasn't warranted because of all the improvements that have been made and they agreed with us."

The committee had originally questioned the medical school's strength in the basic sciences, citing the loss of faculty. With new faculty coming aboard, there is a strengthening of curriculum in that area, said Shomaker.

"In general their thrust is to make sure the students have an excellent grounding in basic science such as genetics, pharmacology and biochemistry, and our curriculum is already addressing a lot of this," he said. "We're beefing up certain things and making sure the modern developments in the molecular sciences are part of the curriculum."

With its "case-based" curriculum, the school will be adding new cases and lectures that deal with these areas, he said.

The committee expects to make a return visit in 18 months to make sure the medical school continues to move forward in these directions, said Shomaker.

The group that appealed the ruling also took slides of the new Kaka'ako renditions. Ground was broken last week for the $150 million facility on 9.1 acres just mauka of Kaka'ako Waterfront Park.

"I think it made some difference," said Shomaker. "It meant this wasn't just a promise. It was reality."