UH Hilo pharmacy faculty’s telehealth project recognized with national award
The focus of the award-winning work finds solutions to Hawaiʻi’s long-standing physician shortage: telehealth training leverages the expertise of pharmacists and nurses to serve as “physician extenders” in rural and medically underserved areas.
By Susan Enright/UH Hilo Stories.
An associate professor of pharmacy at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo and two UH colleagues have received national recognition for their work in addressing Hawaiʻi’s physician shortages by advancing telehealth through nursing and pharmacy students.
Sheri Tokumaru, an associate professor of pharmacy based at the UH Hilo Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy, and two colleagues have received one of five awards as part of the 2025 Excellence in Interprofessional Education Collaboration National Award from the United States Public Health Service and the Interprofessional Education Collaborative.
The award panel selected one overall award and four honorable mentions in specific categories. The UH team with lead author Tokumaru, along with two colleagues involved in the project, received Honorable Mention in Health Communications and Health Technology for their work, “TELepresence InterProfessional RoboT (TELIPoRT) for Pharmacy and Nursing Students in Hawaiʻi.”
- See the published work, “Interprofessional telehealth simulations for pharmacy and nursing students: Development and evaluation of an online experience” (Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, Feb. 2023)
Tokumura works closely on this and other projects with co-authors Lorrie Wong, associate dean for academic affairs at UH Mānoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, and Nicole Young, associate professor and chair of pharmacy practice at UH Hilo’s pharmacy college.
“We are fortunate to collaborate with other healthcare professions to create a great opportunity for learners to practice communication and teamwork using telehealth technology to improve patient care,” says Tokumaru.
The focus of the work finds solutions to Hawaiʻi’s long-standing physician shortage: the telehealth training leverages the expertise of pharmacists and nurses to serve as “physician extenders” in rural and medically underserved scenarios where access to physicians is problematic. Since 2019, all pharmacy and nursing students at the UH Hilo Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy and UH Mānoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene have participated in this activity.
“By empowering pharmacists and other ‘physician extenders’ to practice toward the top of their licenses, the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy is working together with other health professional programs in the University of Hawaiʻi System to find innovative solutions to improve health in our communities,” says Rae Matsumoto, dean of the college.
Tokumaru serves as director of interprofessional education for the pharmacy college and represents pharmacy on the UH interprofessional education working group.
See media release.
Story by Susan Enright, public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
