John A. Burns School of Medicine University of Hawaii at Manoa (MD) Medicine Interview — Format, Questions & Prep Tips

Why JABSOM and Hawaii — what draws you to training in the Pacific context and what do you know about the specific health challenges facing Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities?

Name specific conditions: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer disparities in Native Hawaiian populations. Reference JABSOM’s Pacific Rim mission. If you have personal ties to Hawaii or the Pacific, make them explicit.

JABSOM uses a full Problem-Based Learning curriculum. Describe your experience with self-directed or small-group learning, and how you perform when there is no traditional lecture structure.

PBL requires intrinsic motivation, comfort with ambiguity, and collaborative learning. Describe specific PBL-like academic experiences — research, independent study, team-based problem solving. Be honest about challenges.

A Native Hawaiian patient refuses a recommended procedure because it conflicts with cultural and spiritual beliefs about the body and healing. How do you approach this?

Patient autonomy, cultural humility, informed consent in a cultural context, and the physician’s obligation to understand rather than override patients’ cultural frameworks. Show knowledge of Native Hawaiian health perspectives.

Describe an experience working with a patient or community member whose cultural background was significantly different from your own. What did you learn about your own assumptions?

Cultural humility, self-reflection, and the limits of cultural competency as a fixed skill set. STAR structure; end with a genuine insight about how you changed your approach, not a formulaic conclusion.

Hawaii’s Neighbor Island communities — Maui, the Big Island, Kauai — have significantly less access to specialist care than Oahu. How should the healthcare system address this gap, and what is the individual physician’s role?

Rural and island access challenges, telemedicine, locum opportunities on Neighbor Islands, JABSOM’s distributed clinical training, and the physician workforce’s obligations to underserved geographic areas.

JABSOM trains physicians for a Pacific-basin region that extends from Hawaii to Micronesia. Are you prepared to consider practice in these communities, and what draws you to them?

Authentic engagement with Pacific communities is valued. If you have direct experience, use it. If you are new to the Pacific context, demonstrate genuine curiosity and research — reference specific Pacific Island health statistics or programs.

Pharmaceutical pricing in Hawaii is significantly higher than on the mainland due to import costs. A patient cannot afford a medication that is standard of care. How do you proceed?

Hawaii-specific cost context. Address medication assistance programs, formulary alternatives, advocacy, and the structural healthcare cost disparities facing island communities.

In a PBL small group, one member consistently arrives under-prepared and contributes minimally. How do you handle this over the course of the module?

PBL team dynamics and peer accountability. Show you can address the issue directly but supportively, involve facilitators appropriately, and maintain a collaborative rather than punitive framing.

JABSOM pioneered PBL in the United States. What do you understand about the educational philosophy behind PBL, and how does it prepare physicians differently from lecture-based training?

Demonstrate genuine understanding of PBL pedagogy: self-directed learning, intrinsic motivation, clinical reasoning from first principles, and the evidence base for PBL’s outcomes in medical education.

Tourism and development pressures are reshaping Hawaiian communities and affecting local residents’ health and wellbeing. As a physician in Hawaii, how do you see the intersection of environmental, economic, and health justice?

Hawaii-specific social determinants context. Show awareness of housing costs, displacement, environmental health, and the broader social determinants framework in a unique island community context.

Role-play: You are a student at a JABSOM-affiliated clinic. The actor is a Native Hawaiian patient whose family prefers to incorporate traditional healing practices alongside the treatment you have recommended, and they are guarded about whether you will respect that. Begin the conversation.

Lead with cultural humility and genuine curiosity about their practices; look for integration rather than opposition. Demonstrate respect for Native Hawaiian healing frameworks while ensuring safety — JABSOM's interviewers assess listening and partnership, not persuasion.

An interviewer shows you that Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations have substantially higher rates of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease than the state average. What might explain this, and how should JABSOM's mission respond?

Discuss the interplay of social determinants, historical and structural factors, diet and environment, and access — avoid attributing disparities to individual behavior alone. Connect to JABSOM's community-centered, Pacific-basin mission and culturally grounded prevention.

You are facilitating part of a PBL session and a quieter group member from a different cultural background has not spoken, while two others dominate. How do you create space for everyone without singling anyone out?

Show inclusive facilitation that respects different communication styles. JABSOM's small, close-knit PBL cohorts make equitable group participation a genuine and assessed skill.

JABSOM trains physicians for a Pacific-basin region extending from Hawaii to Micronesia. Describe any experience that connects you to these communities, or — if you are new to the Pacific — what concrete steps you have taken to understand them.

Authenticity is paramount. If you have ties, make them concrete; if not, show genuine, researched engagement (specific programs, statistics, or relationships) rather than lifestyle-motivated interest, which JABSOM treats as a red flag.

A patient on a Neighbor Island needs specialist care available only on Oahu but cannot afford the travel and time away from family and work. As their physician, how do you proceed?

Address island access inequity, telemedicine and travel-assistance resources, coordination with Oahu specialists, and creative problem-solving within real constraints — the everyday reality of JABSOM's distributed clinical training.