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Board Officers & Members

Aloha Medical Mission Board of Directors

Bradley Wong, M.D.

Craig Thomas, M.D.

Lisa M. Grininger, M.D.

Colleen Minami, M.S.N.

Sandra J. Yorong

Laurie Kawasaki

Jorge G. Camara, M.D.

President

Senior V.P.

V.P. Overseas Missions

V.P. Administration

Secretary & V.P. Fund Development

Treasurer

Past President


Board Members

Vernon E. Ansdell, M.D.
Lolita Ching, R.N.
Shim Ching, M.D.
Arthur Fine, Esq.
Elizabeth Ignacio, M.D.
Kerry Ishihara, D.D.S.
Richard Sherman, Esq.
Wendy Sherman, R.N.
Ramon Sy, M.D.
David Taga, Esq.
Antonio Tan, M.D.
Curtis Toma, M.D.

Executive Director
Susan J. Hughes
 



 

Bradley D. Wong, M.D., F.A.C.S.
President
Retired Surgeon, The Queen's Medical Center

Dr. Bradley Wong is a general surgeon who completed his surgical residency at the University of Hawai‘i John A. Burns School of Medicine in 1980. He taught as an assistant professor of surgery, receiving awards in teaching both medical students and residents. He received his B.A. in biology at Yale College in 1971, and his M.D. from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1975. In 2008, he received the International Volunteerism Award from the American College of Surgeons, Operation Giving Back, for his work with Aloha Medical Mission. He served as Chief of Trauma at the Queen's Medical Center from 1981 to 1987, and was the Program Director of the American College of Surgeons' Hawai‘i chapter Advanced Trauma Life Support courses from 1981 to 1989.

He joined Aloha Medical Mission in 1988, subsequently participating in more than 16 surgical missions to the Philippines. He has also volunteered on missions to Vietnam, Mexico, American Sāmoa, Okinawa and China. Following his retirement from formal surgical practice in 2008, he served four months at the Tansen Mission Hospital in rural Nepal and now works as a surgical consultant at the Kalihi-Pālama Health Center, a community-based health clinic.

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AnchorCraig Thomas, M.D., F.A.C.E.P.
Senior Vice-President
President, Hawai‘i Emergency Physicians Associated Inc.

Dr. Craig Thomas graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine in 1980 and completed residency training in Denver, Colorado. He then sailed to Hawai‘i from Connecticut and joined Hawai‘i Emergency Physicians Associated Inc. For the last 12 years he has been president of the group, splitting his time between patient care and administration. Additionally he serves as clinical faculty at the University of Hawai‘i John A. Burns School of Medicine, Medical Director for Honolulu Police and Fire departments, and physician on the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hōkūle‘a.

He joined Aloha Medical Mission in 1991, participating in missions to China, Philippines and Vanuatu, also for the last 13 years leading a project in Bangladesh. This project includes local clinics with specialty referrals, "Head Start" preschools and vocational education, community outreach programs funded utilizing microcredit loans.

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Colleen E. Minami, M.S.N.
Vice-President of Administration
Retired Public Health Nurse, Community Volunteer

Colleen Minami has served on the Aloha Medical Mission Board of Directors since 1994 and as Vice President of Administration since 2008. She also chairs the Hawai‘i Programs Committee, which oversees the AMM Honolulu Clinic at Pālama Settlement and is actively involved in securing funds for its operations.

Born and raised in Honolulu, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene and earned a master’s degree in nursing from the University of California San Francisco Medical Center School of Nursing.  She taught at San Francisco State College and worked as a public health nurse for the San Jose City Health Department.  

Upon her return to Honolulu, Mrs. Minami worked in various capacities at the Hawai‘i State Department of Health for 33 years, beginning as a public health nurse and progressing to a nursing supervisor; chief of Community Partnerships Program Branch; program administrator for AmeriCorps ACHIEVE, Project TEACH, the Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program and the Hawai‘i State Diabetes Control Program; and finally as the chief of the Chronic Disease Management and Control Branch.  She became a certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and a certified nurse administrator while working for the Department of Health and became an NCAST instructor through the University of Washington School of Nursing, training public health nurses to assess parent-child interactions for potential abuse and neglect.

She has been active in many community health organizations, serving on the Child and Family Service Guild, on the Board of the Honolulu Community Action Program, and as a previous board president of The Institute for Human Services.  She is one of the 2010 Jefferson awardees for Hawai‘i.

Mrs. Minami's hobbies include fishing, snorkeling and traveling, as well as visiting and babysitting her grandchildren, Maile and Shawn, in Iowa as often as she can.

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Lisa M. Grininger, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Vice-President of Overseas Missions
Attending Physician, Department of Surgery, Kaiser Permanente Hawai‘i

Dr. Lisa Grininger is a general surgeon at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Honolulu. She graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles and the University of Hawai‘i John A. Burns School of Medicine, and completed her residency in general surgery at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in 1990.  She has served on the board of directors of the Hawai‘i Permanente Medical Group, the Susan G. Komen For the Cure Breast Cancer Foundation and the Honolulu branch of the American Cancer Society.  She is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American Society of Breast Surgeons.  She serves as faculty for the University of Hawai‘i and is active in teaching surgical residents and medical students. 

Dr. Grininger has been involved with Aloha Medical Mission since 1993 and has led and participated in medical missions to the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

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Sandra J. Yorong
Secretary and Vice-President of Fund Development
Financial Advisor, Alan Kodama & Associates

Sandi Yorong joined the Aloha Medical Mission Board of Directors in 2009. She has more than 15 years of experience in the financial services industry. After many years as a financial consultant, trust officer and investment portfolio manager for a local bank, Sandi joined a highly recognized professional financial planning practice. Her focus is helping individuals and families achieve their goals and objectives with financial planning and investment management strategies.

Her education background in business management, and strong organization skills, contribute to her leadership at AMM. Sandi is the author of Lifetime Medical Organizer: A Simple Guide to Organizing Matters of Life and Health. She also serves on the board for the Leeward YMCA, as a trustee for her church and as a volunteer guild member for Child & Family Service.

Her life mission is to make a positive difference in some small way.

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Laurie Kawasaki
Treasurer
Vice-President of Finance, Better Brands Hawai‘i

Laurie Kawasaki is the Vice-President of Finance at Better Brands, a division of Young's Market LLC.  She joined the Aloha Medical Mission Board of Directors in February 2010.

In 1991, she graduated with an accounting degree from the University of Hawai‘i College of Business Administration (now the Shidler College of Business) and joined Ernst & Young, LLP, as a member of their audit team, later earning her CPA in 1994.  In 1997, Laurie joined Bank of Hawai‘i's controller's division as the South Pacific Accounting Manager.  She later held accounting and finance positions at Wade Tokoro Surfboards, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and now Better Brands. 

Laurie volunteers with New Hope Christian Fellowship as a Sunday school teacher once a month, sponsors a child with Compassion International and sponsors a missionary with Every Nations Ministries.  She is also a Stampin' Up Demonstrator. Laurie brings with her a strong accounting and financial background through her years of audit experience at Ernst & Young, LLP, her home-finance consulting work and her current position in private industry. 

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Jorge G. Camara, M.D.
-Ophthalmologist, Camara Eye Clinic
-Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai­­ʻi

-Immediate Past AMM President

Dr. Camara is the past president of Aloha Medical Mission. He has received many honors, including the Hawaiʻi Medical Association’s Physician of the Year Award; the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Outstanding Humanitarian Award; the Distinguished Alumnus in Ophthalmology (Louis Girard Award) from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas; and the Maryknoll School’s Bishop Kekumanu Award. He has received awards from the governor of Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiʻi State Legislature, the Honolulu City Council and the Philippine Presidential Award for his many contributions to ophthalmologic care in the Philippines.

He pioneered the use of YAG laser capsulotomy, a surgery to treat cataracts, in Hawaiʻi and was the world's first ophthalmologist to perform orbital surgery using Telemedicine, a feat shown on CNN Headline News. He developed an innovative laser procedure to treat blocked tear ducts and discovered an ophthalmologic condition in Asians affecting their eyelids, called involutional lateral entropion, while developing the surgery to correct it.

He established a fellowship-training program in ophthalmic reconstructive and orbital surgery for ophthalmologists from the Philippines and has trained 25 fellows who have returned to practice in their country. He is frequently invited to teach ophthalmologists and other physicians various techniques in ophthalmological surgery in seminars throughout the world. Dr. Camara shares his knowledge by publishing research papers in peer-reviewed journals and writing chapters for medical textbooks.

Dr. Camara has been chosen by United States physicians as” One of the Best Doctors in America” and has received the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Outstanding Humanitarian Award for his contributions to international ophthalmology and for his work with Aloha Medical Mission.

Dr. Camara is also an accomplished concert pianist and has produced and performed in four of the concerts benefitting AMM. He published a scientific research paper showing classical piano music favorably reduces the blood pressure, heart rate and breathing rate of patients undergoing ophthalmic surgery. He recently released a CD entitled “Live From the Operating Room” and is working on a second CD entitled “Vital Signs.”

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Vernon E. Ansdell, M.D., F.R.C.P., D.T.M.&H.
Chief of Internal Medicine, Kaiser Permanente Hawai‘i
Director, Travel and Tropical Medicine Clinic, Kaiser Permanente Hawai‘i

Dr. Vernon Ansdell graduated from the University of Burmingham Medical School in England. After completing training in internal medicine, he worked at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and The Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London for six years before coming to Hawai‘i. He has served on the board of directors for Hawai‘i Permanente Medical Group and the Someone Special Foundation.

Dr. Ansdell has numerous publications on travel and tropical medicine and has authored several chapters on topics such as leptospirosis and seafood toxins.

He joined the Aloha Medical Mission in 1992 and has participated or led missions to the Philippines, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Indonesia. He has a special interest in disaster relief and has led missions to Aceh, Indonesia, after the tsunami in 2005 and Southern Leyte in the Philippines after a major landslide.

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    Lolita Ching, R.N., M.S.N., C.C.R.N.
Owner, Quality Case Management Inc.

Lolita Ching has been a volunteer with Aloha Medical Mission since 1992 and has been a leader on 25 missions to Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. She has been a member of the AMM Board of Directors since 1998.   

Volunteer community work is Lolita's primary passion. She is currently the president of the Chinese General Hospital Alumni Association-International, the past president of the Filipino Nurses Organization of Hawaiʻi, a volunteer for the Minority Organ & Tissue Transplant Education Program (MOTTEP), and Champ instructor. Her commitment to helping others has been recognized both locally and internationally by various Filipino community organizations in Hawaiʻi. Lolita is the 2004 recipient of the Lapu-Lapu Humanitarian Award.

Lolita is a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Reserve with the rank of Major. In 2005-2007, she was deployed as a Critical Care Nurse in support of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom. Her military decorations and awards include the Army Service Ribbon, Unit Achievement Award (4), Meritorious Award (3) and the GWOT (2007). In addition, since 1999 Lolita has owned and managed Quality Case Management, Inc.  Since 2008, she has been part-owner of Quality Medical Supply Corporation, a durable medical equipment company.

Lolita obtained her Nursing Diploma from the Chinese General Hospital School of Nursing in 1977, her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Arellano University in 1979, and her Master of Science in Nursing at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 1989. Lolita has been a seasoned nurse for more than 30 years, serving in multiple nursing leadership capacities as administrator, patient care coordinator, clinical nurse specialist, clinical service manager, intensive-care charge nurse and a relief nursing supervisor at the Rehab of the Pacific. Her areas of clinical expertise include case management, rehabilitation, post-anesthesia care, home health care, critical care nursing, and pediatrics.

Lolita is the youngest daughter of 11 children of the late Macario Echauz and Esperanza Piornato of Negros Occidental, Philippines, and has been married to Frederick Muñoz Ching for 30 years. They have two daughters, Michelle and Melissa.

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Shim Ching, M.D., F.R.C.S.C., F.A.C.S.
Plastic Surgeon, Asia Pacific Plastic Surgery, Inc.

Dr. Shim Ching is a plastic surgeon in private practice in Honolulu. Since 2005, he has participated with Aloha Medical Mission in five surgical missions to the Philippines, providing care to people with cleft and burn deformities.

He attended McGill University in Montréal, Canada, receiving a Bachelor of Science in neurobiology and a master's in biology, and then obtained his medical doctorate at the University of British Columbia. After completing his residency in plastic surgery at McMaster University in Ontario, Dr. Ching pursued fellowship training in head and neck reconstruction, hand and microvascular surgery, and aesthetic surgery. He is the recipient of numerous awards for excellence in research and scholastic achievement. Dr. Ching now serves as an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Hawai‘i John A. Burns School of Medicine.

In his free time, he enjoys travel, photography, wine, skiing, surfing and motorsport.

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Arthur Fine, Esq.
Senior Partner, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLC
General Counsel, Vice President and Director, Beckman Laser Institute
General Counsel and Director, Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation

Arthur Fine is an undergraduate and law graduate of the University of California-Berkeley. He is a senior litigation partner with Mitchell Silberberg and Knupp in Los Angeles. Among Art's other legal activities are assisting, advising and representing nonprofits and foundations. Art is the general counsel, vice president and a director of the Beckman Laser Institute Inc., a nonprofit foundation that provides grants for photometric research in basic cell biology and for medical diagnosis and treatment purposes. He is also the general counsel and a director of the Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation, whose mission is to provide free prosthetic hands to amputees in the developing world. Art is expected to provide legal guidance on nonprofit law to Aloha Medical Mission and to be responsible for making the providing of prosthetic hands an integral part of each future AMM surgical mission.

Art and his surgeon wife have lived and worked abroad, and are widely traveled in the developing world. Art has already participated with his wife in AMM's surgical mission to Bacolod, Philippines, and will join his wife for AMM's surgical mission to Dhankuta, Nepal. Art has also been involved in a non-AMM surgical mission to the Solomon Islands, and has been involved in delivering, fitting, training to fit, and supervising fitting of prosthetic hands in Vietnam, Senegal, India, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands.

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Elizabeth Ignacio, M.D.
Partner/Orthopedic Surgeon, Orthopedic Associates of Hawai‘i
Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, John A. Burns School of Medicine

Dr. Ignacio was born in the Philippines and grew up in Honolulu. She took part in the neighbor-island missions of Aloha Medical Mission as a student. She graduated from ‘Iolani School, and as a National Merit Scholar she pursued her undergraduate training at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in biology and was honored with the Knuppel-Frieswyk award for excellence in academics, athletics and performing arts. She continued at Georgetown for medical school, where she earned her doctorate of medicine. She completed her orthopedic surgery residency at Georgetown. During her residency, she assisted in laboratory research at the National Institutes of Health, and in her chief year, she was awarded by the Washington D.C. Orthopedic Society for her work in cartilage research.  She was also honored with an award from the Georgetown medical students for excellence in teaching. Upon graduating from residency, Dr. Ignacio completed fellowship training in sports medicine, and arthroscopic and reconstructive surgery at the Southern California Center for Sports Medicine. She was the first female in the fellowship's history, and upon completion of her fellowship she was invited to stay as the first female faculty member of the fellowship and group practice. 
 
Dr. Ignacio is certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgeons. She is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the John A. Burns School of Medicine and serves as a Team Physician and Medical Consultant to the University of Hawai‘i athletics department. She is also on the Executive Committee for the Hawai‘i Orthopedic Association, and serves on the Community Leadership Board for the Hawai‘i Chapter of the American Diabetes Association. 
 
Dr. Ignacio's involvement with the Aloha Medical Mission started when she was a high school student. Since then, she has also enjoyed being a pianist for two fundraising concerts for the Aloha Medical Mission, and has been humbled and privileged to serve on its Board of Directors.

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Kerry Ishihara, D.D.S.
General Dentist, Private Practice

Dr. Kerry Ishihara graduated from the University of Washington in 1980 with a B.S. in biology and from the University of Washington School of Dentistry in 1984. He started his dental career as a dental officer in the U.S. Army Dental Corps and was stationed in Yongsan, Korea, and at Schofield Barracks in Honolulu. He departed from active duty 1988 and joined a private practice in Wahiawā, where he continues to practice general dentistry. His military service continued as a member of the Hawai‘i Army National Guard and the Army Reserve until he retired in 2006.

Dr. Ishihara first began as a volunteer dentist in the early 1990s with the Bayanihan Clinic Without Walls' dental clinic at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Kalihi. He continued when the clinic became part of Aloha Medical Mission at The Institute of Human Service and followed as the clinic moved to its current location at Pālama Settlement.

Dr. Ishihara has participated in overseas missions to Jamaica and the Dominican Republic in response to the call of his Christian faith. His desire is to continue to serve the Lord in whatever way He leads.

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 Richard L. Sherman, Esq.
Vice-President of Business Development and General Counsel, Hawai‘i Biotech Inc.

Dick Sherman is an attorney, entrepreneur and investor who has been active in health-related industries for nearly 40 years. He joined the Aloha Medical Mission Board of Directors in February 2010.

His nonprofit and charitable activities have included services on the boards of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Association, the Delaware Valley Chapter of the American Corporate Counsel Association (where he also served as president of the chapter), the American Music Theater Festival (also serving as president), The Sbarro Health Research Organization, the Hawai‘i Venture Capital Association, and the Hawai‘i Science and Technology Council. He has also served as a member of the investment advisory committee of the Ben Franklin Technology Center, the Executive Board of the START Technology Partnership (a consortium of universities), The Technology Advisory Board for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and the Advisory Board of the University of Hawai‘i John A. Burns School of Medicine.  He has participated actively in capital campaigns for a number of organizations, including Kaua‘i Hospice, the American Cancer Society and Boy Scouts of America.  He has participated in multiple overseas medical missions, including to Vietnam and Bhutan.

Mr. Sherman is the Vice President of Business Development, Secretary and General Counsel of Hawai‘i Biotech Inc. (a company developing vaccines for infectious diseases), and serves as a consultant to the law firm of Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel, in Honolulu.  He spent more than a decade (1976-1989) as Deputy General Counsel of SmithKline Beckman Corporation (now GlaxoSmithKline), was a partner in the Philadelphia law firm of Pepper Hamilton LLP (1989-1992), and was founder and managing officer (1992-2001) of QED Technologies, Inc., a life-science business consulting firm purchased in 1999 by The Omnicom Group.  He maintains an independent consulting practice in the life sciences industry, and is a principal in a private SBIC Investment fund, CIP Capital, L.P. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as well as a Venture Partner of SCP Private Equity Partners and of Vitalife II, venture funds located in suburban Philadelphia.  He has also served on the board of directors of a number of for-profit companies. 

Mr. Sherman graduated magna cum laude from the University of Nebraska (1968), where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  As a Root-Tilden Scholar at the New York University School of Law, he received his Juris Doctor in 1971.

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Wendy Sherman, R.N., B.S.N.
Volunteer Nurse, Surgicorps International

Mrs. Sherman is an operating room nurse with over 25 years of experience. She was employed by Chester County Hospital in suburban Philadelphia from 1982 to 2004, before retiring from full-time nursing. She has since volunteered as a member of medical staff on overseas surgical missions for Surgicorps International and Aloha Medical Mission.

She received her Registered Nursing Diploma in 1984 and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Immaculata University in 2001. She has been the recipient of awards for Excellence in Operating Room Nursing. She is also trained in recovery room, medical/surgical and hospice nursing. In 2008, on a mission trip in Bhutan, she served as director of postoperative care for 42 patients, including supervising and mentoring 10 nursing students.

Mrs. Sherman is licensed to practice in Hawai‘i and Pennsylvania. She serves on the board of directors of Aloha Medical Mission and is an active member of Halau O Hanalei and Wai‘oli Hui‘ia Church in Hanalei on Kaua‘i.

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Ramon K. Sy, M.D.
Otorhinolaryngologist (ENT), Private Practice
AMM Founder

Drs. Ramon Sy, Ernesto Espaldon and Danilo Lucila founded the Aloha Medical Mission in 1983 while Dr. Sy was president of the Philippine Medical Association of Hawai‘i. Dr. Sy served as the president of AMM from 1983 to 2006. Born in China, he came to the U.S. in 1961, completing his medical internship in Buffalo, NY, and his otolaryngology residency at the University of Chicago. In 1969, he joined the Hawai‘i Permanente Medical Group, serving as president of its medical staff in 1975. In 1979, he began his ENT private practice. He has served on the American Cancer Society, the Lion's Club of Honolulu, the Governor’s Committee on Drugs and Other Substances, and the Hawai‘i State Board of Medical Examiners. In 1984, he was elected president of the Hawai‘i Society of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery and has been an adjunct assistant professor of the University of Hawai‘i John A. Burns School of Medicine for nearly 10 years. He has received numerous awards for his community service, the most memorable being the prestigious national Jefferson Award in 2007, recognizing his continued and dedicated efforts in volunteerism.

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David Taga, Esq.
Attorney, Watanabe Ing LLP

David S. Taga is an attorney at Watanabe Ing LLP. He has served as a board member of the Aloha Medical Mission since 2010.

Born and raised in Honolulu, Mr. Taga is a graduate of Mid-Pacific Institute and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He received his law degree magna cum laude from the William S. Richardson School of Law.

Before entering private practice, he clerked for the Honorable Corinne K.A. Watanabe, associate judge of the Intermediate Court of Appeals.

In his prior career, Mr. Taga worked for several years at Milici Valenti Ng Pack Advertising, where he managed successful marketing campaigns for some of Hawai‘i’s most respected companies.

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Antonio Tan, M.D.
Retired Urologist, Private Practice
Former AMM President

Ever since Dr. Antonio Tan was old enough to comprehend things, he has come to realize how lucky he is to be alive. When his mother was four months pregnant with him, she was accidentally shot twice in the abdomen by her husband. She was successfully operated on and saved. Luckily for Dr. Tony Tan, the womb was spared and she carried him to full term. Through the influence of his father and Tony himself realizing that he was given a second chance in life, he resolved to live a meaningful life by becoming a doctor to help sick people.

He graduated from medical school in 1969 and went for general surgery and urology training at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. Immediately after training in 1979, he moved to Hawai‘i ,where he had a successful urology practice until his retirement in 2009. Aloha Medical Mission has provided him the vehicle to help the poor who are sick not only here in Hawai‘i but also outside the country. He joined Aloha Medical Mission in 1984 as a volunteer and later led many medical missions. He has been a longstanding member of the AMM Board of Directors and was its president from 2006 to 2008.

He has also been president of the Philippine Medical Association (1986-1987), president of the Hawai‘i Urological Society (1987-1988), on the Board of Medical Examiners, State of Hawai‘i (1995-1999), and on the Board of Governors for Hawai‘i Filipino Healthcare, an HMO organization (2004-2010).

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Curtis Toma, M.D.
Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Kalihi-Pālama Health Center
Assistant Clinical Professor, departments of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics,
John A. Burns School of Medicine

Dr. Curtis Toma is a full-time primary care physician at the Kalihi-Pālama Health Center and the Institute for Human Services, both community health centers serving underserved and uninsured patients in Honolulu. Dr. Toma has spent his career working at a variety of community health centers, such as the Bay Clinic and the Wai‘anae Coast Community Health Center, in a mix of clinical, administrative and leadership roles. He currently serves on Aloha Care’s Pharmacy & Therapeutics and Quality Improvement Advisory committees. He also has a full-time job as a husband and a father for an 11-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son.

Dr. Toma completed medical school at the University of Hawai‘i John A. Burns School of Medicine in 1998, serving as elected representative and ombudsman for fellow medical students. He received the Edward Shen, M.D. Award for senior medical student in cardiology. Dr. Toma went on to complete a combined residency in internal medicine and pediatrics in 2002, rotating between the Queen’s Medical Center and Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children. He received the pediatric resident annual award for outstanding achievement in 2001 and completing an additional year of training and teaching as pediatric chief resident from 2002-2003. His research interests in the field of telemedicine and medical informatics led him to produce two journal publications and telemedicine work between the Marshall Islands and Tripler Army Medical Center.

He has seen on a daily basis how community health centers and volunteer organizations like the Aloha Medical Mission can positively impact patients in a cost-effective manner, and is motivated and proud to volunteer with the Aloha Medical Mission.

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