How the first Native Hawaiian psychiatrist set a course for diversifying medicine
Benjamin Young didn’t set out to be the first Native Hawaiian psychiatrist. Nor did he go looking to be the first physician on board what would become a landmark epic voyage from Tahiti to Hawaii back in 1976, using only the stars, sun, moon, and cloud and wave patterns as guides.
And Young had no clue that, toward the beginning of his career, he would be called on to start up a first-of-its-kind program at the University of Hawaii to diversify the number of Pacific Islanders and other underrepresented groups in medicine.
