UH Report: Culture is Just What the Doctor Ordered Health inequity for Native Hawaiians began with infectious disease epidemics, intensified with the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and persisted through the loss of land and suppression of cultural practices. That’s according to a report released by the U-H John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) Keaweʻaimoku Kaholokula heads the school’s Native Hawaiian Health Department. “I think we often focus on the biological and lifestyle issues but neglect the fact that a lot of the structural racism and health inequities that we experience actually stem from this historical past,” says Kaholokula, “So we highlighted that.”