A unique program established 50 years ago at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has annually sent 10 medical students and physicians from Hawaiʻi to Okinawa, resulting in a center of medical-care excellence recognized throughout Japan based on American-style medical training.

Nine of the 10 local participants in the UH Postgraduate Medical Education Program work at Chubu Hospital in Okinawa as short-term consultants for a week, with one medical doctor staying for a three-month stint. The program introduced Japan to the notion of rotating internships in various specialties that placed an emphasis on clinical training.

The anniversary of the five-decade-long program was celebrated at UH with a four-member panel discussion and symposium sponsored by the Center for Okinawan Studies.