Foundation Established by Robert Oshiro Donates $1.7 million for UH School of Medicine Scholarships

"Governor Burns and my husband always envisioned education as the great equalizer, the way to improve yourself in so many ways. They dreamed of a medical school and law school for Hawaiʻi when none existed."

The partnership between Robert Oshiro and Hawaiʻi Governor John A. Burns was legendary. Together, they framed the future of Hawaiʻi. Robert Oshiro, who founded the John A. Burns Foundation in 1974 and served as its president, passed away last February. However one of his final wishes for the Foundation recently came to fruition.

Elected to the state House in 1959, the year Hawaiʻi became a state, Bob Oshiro became a stalwart in the state Democratic party, serving as Chairman from 1962 to 1968 and managing six winning gubernatorial bids by Burns, George Ariyoshi and John Waihee.

Three-term Hawaiʻi governor John A. Burns was elected to his first term in 1962, just three years after Hawaiʻi became a state. Burns saw the University of Hawaiʻi as an institution that would help to fulfill his dream of improving the lives of the people of Hawaiʻi. He championed educational opportunities for people of Japanese ancestry, favored attracting mainland and foreign students and advocated a broad educational system.

During the Burns administrations and with his continuing support, UH Mānoa experienced unprecedented growth, the medical and law schools were established and construction began on the observatories atop Mauna Kea. In addition, Burns advocated four-year campuses at Hilo and West Oʻahu and presided over the establishment of the UH system of community colleges.

In keeping with their long history of providing critical support for education, officials from the John A. Burns Foundation have made a gift of $1.7 million to establish an endowed scholarship fund for first year medical students at the University of Hawaiʻi John A. Burns School of Medicine. The scholarships will be awarded to top-ranked candidates admitted to the medical school. The majority of the gift will be utilized to establish an endowed scholarship fund with the remainder to be used for immediate awards. The Foundation has already funded sixteen first-year scholarships since 2005 through annual gifts to the medical school. This endowment will make it possible for the school to offer these scholarships in perpetuity.

"Many of our best and brightest candidates are at risk of being recruited to mainland medical schools, with offers of 1-4 year scholarships" said Dr. Jerris R. Hedges, Dean of the John A. Burns School of Medicine. "For JABSOM to be a viable competitor to these mainland institutions, we need endowed medical school scholarships to attract and retain the best. Tuition costs are high — over $22,000 for Hawaiʻi residents and over $45,000 for non-residents. Even for the 90% of our students who are Hawaiʻi residents, the costs are steep. The opportunity to offer them scholarship support strengthens our opportunity to retain these students in Hawaiʻi" noted Dr. Hedges.

With these scholarships, the legacy of both Bob Oshiro and John A. Burns lives on.

"The John A. Burns Foundation was formed to carry out the dreams and aspirations embodied in the ‘Burns Philosophy’. This gift to the John A. Burns School of Medicine carries out Mr. Oshiro’s final wishes for the Foundation as well as the medical school"