Giving Opportunities

Transformational Giving

Barry and Virginia Weinman and the first Weinman Fellows: (left to right)
Bradlee Sako, Barry Weinman, Virginia Weinman, Kristine Layugan, and Joshua Hvidding

Last Thanksgiving, three medical school students had a special reason to give thanks. These first recipients of the Barry and Virginia Weinman Fellowship received support covering four continuous years of tuition and fees at the John Burns Medical School (JABSOM).

The $1 million Barry and Virginia Weinman Fellowship was established to aid students who plan to intern and practice in Hawaiʻi. "A doctor is one of the greatest assets in a community," said Barry Weinman. "Encouraging future physicians to stay in our Islands not only strengthens the medical profession and quality of care, it helps improve the quality of life in Hawaiʻi."

It’s a lesson the inaugural recipients have taken to heart. Bradlee Sako, an energetic young man with a ready smile, graduated from Leilehua High School and was a Regent Scholar at UH Mānoa. He intends to utilize JABSOM’s problem-based approach to learning when he opens his primary care practice in his hometown of Waipahu.

Ambitious, Joshua Hvidding’s academic achievements took him from Wai’anae to Vanderbilt, Yale, the University of San Francisco and Masters in Public Health at the University of New South Wales. Now, Mr. Hvidding is attending JABSOM with the dream of returning full circle by bringing healing and inspiration to his home community of Wai’anae.

Kristine Layugan’s interest in medicine began as a child when she first heard a heart beating through a stethoscope. Since then, the ’Iolani School graduate has pursued her passion for medicine and wants to serve Hawaiʻi’s immigrant population as a physician.

The fellowship is Barry and Virginia Weinman’s second investment in UH and follows a previous donation of $1.35 million in 2000 to the Barry and Virginia Weinman Professor of Entrepreneurship and E-business at the Shidler College of Business.

About making that gift, Virginia explained, "We really have entrepreneurial instincts so we thought the answers to some of Hawaiʻi’s economic problems could be driving the entrepreneurial community." When asked his recipe for a successful entrepreneur and a healthy economy, Barry has said, "The university is the first place you start."