2024-25 Dr. Ming Chen & Dr. Mindy Mandich Scholarship Recipient

Name: Eduardo Biala, Jr.

JABSOM class year: 4th year

High school: John F. Kennedy High School (Guam)

Undergrad: University of Guam (BS in Biology)
Scholarship amount: $2,375

Eduardo is the 4th year class president and an ʻImi Hoʻōla graduate (the ʻImi Hoʻōla program offers a 12-month post-bac pathway for disadvantaged students, aiming to increase physician diversity and support underserved communities in Hawaiʻi and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands).

This year’s Scholarship Dinner event is tentatively scheduled for January 17th.

Scholarship Recipient Essay from Dylan Lawton, MD Candidate

Dr. John Funai: The Heart of Kaua‘i

Dylan Lawton, MD Candidate

Having recently completed my first year of medical school at the John A. Burns School

of Medicine (JABSOM) last year, I’ve had time to reflect on the tremendous amount of growth

and knowledge obtained from countless mentors and patients. From learning about various

organ-specific pathologies to traveling across our island chain to learn about different

populations, I feel extremely grateful and humbled to be immersed in the field of medicine. As I

now am in the midst of my inpatient clinical rotations as a third year student, one interaction with

a Kaua‘i physician still guides my clinical practice to this day.

One of the main highlights of my first year included a three-month preclerkship rotation

on the island of Kaua‘i. Along with five other classmates, we were able to live and learn in the

Kaua‘i community. This experience was especially exciting for me because of my family history

on the island. My grandfather grew up in the town of Kapa‘a, where enjoyed the simple

pleasures of going to the beach, fishing, and spending time with family. These stories came to

life whenever I visited Kaua‘i. Unfortunately, my Kaua‘i ohana faced several medical hardships

over the years and they did not always have access to sufficient healthcare, which I later learned

was correlated to the island’s severe physician shortage.

Thus, during my time on Kaua‘i, I sought to learn more about this shortage. I was able to

shadow Dr. John Funai, a cardiologist at Wilcox Medical Center, who served as an incredible

mentor to me not only in the field of cardiology, but also in compassionate patient care. From the

moment I met Dr. Funai, I instantly felt welcomed by his warm smile and positive demeanor. He

quickly grabbed a chair for me to sit next to his desk where he began to explain the various

patients we would be seeing together that day. With every patient encounter that I observed, the

warm demeanor I had felt when meeting Dr. Funai seemed to permeate through each interaction,

and it was very evident that each patient greatly admired him. Although he sees hundreds of

patients each year, he not only knew about every detail of their medical problems, but this also

extended beyond to their social and personal lives. For each patient, he would use these details to

connect with and enrich each clinical visit, and I believe that is what distinguishes him to be an

excellent physician.

Dr. Funai has a teacher’s heart. Despite how busy he was each day I saw him, he would

always make time to discuss clinical cases with me and make me feel involved in patient care in

some way or form. As I got to know him more, I realized that used to be a clinical professor at

Harvard Medical School for decades, and his teaching abilities combined with his compassion

made him an excellent teacher.

As a future physician, it is my hope to enrich the Kaua‘i community through my practice

of healing. Dr. Funai’s compassion and mentorship is helping me to achieve that goal, through

not only solidifying my clinical knowledge, but also showing me how to best connect with a

community and provide compassionate healthcare.

Scholarship Recipient Melissa Takahashi

I am grateful for the opportunity to learn and teach under Dr. Chen. He is a treasured sensei, a leadership figure, and vital member of our karate dojo. Dr. Chen is a patient teacher and helps instill discipline and physical well-being in his students. He is a fifth dan black belt and assists our head sensei, Sensei Lee Donohue, in guiding students and improving social, mental, and physical health.

Through karate, I’ve learned the importance of perseverance. I started karate when I was six, and the dojo has continued to push me past limits and take me out of my comfort zone. At first, this was physically, and now in leadership roles. Learning under Dr. Chen in my advanced belt degrees has helped me gain confidence in teaching large classes and taking charge among colleagues. Dr. Chen helps his students work through their forms until they master them and provides leadership opportunities to students and black belts. I’ve learned from his teaching style and implemented it in my own classes.

These interpersonal skills are vital in school, my future career, and life. Our dojo enforces the use of “bylaws,” essentially known as the dojos backbone of morals and social etiquette to follow. Dr. Chen has helped instill these lessons in his students and the black belts working under him. Through this, I’ve learned the importance of humility, sincerity, and patience. Many of these messages focus on how we use our karate, and others on respect, kindness, and forgiveness. As our final bylaw states, “Protect the innocent, forgive the ignorant, and tame only the wild. However, we must tame ourselves first before we tame the wild.” Here, it reminds us that what we learn should be used protectively, and forgiving the ignorant is vital in avoiding unnecessary issues. Taming ourselves first relates to gaining self-enlightenment and actualization before we are ready and capable of helping others.

Karate has helped me become a better person, instilling these values in my character. I strive to use these lessons in my everyday life and become an inspiration to my students. Dr. Chen continues to be an exceptional role model and mentor, and I am grateful for the intriguing experience of learning under him and for the Ming Chen Foundation.

Scholarship Recipient Christopher Cook

I am extremely honored to be the first recipient of the Ming Chen Foundation

scholarship pursuant of the doctor of optometry and thankful that I can share my mentoring

experience with an optometrist in Chicago along with my passion for primary eye care.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Dr. Kasia Aleszczyk, OD since the fall of 2021 and

her passion for optometry, along with her support of me and my pursuit in the field, have been

paramount in where I am at today. After graduating the Illinois College of Optometry (ICO),

where I will begin my doctoral education this coming fall, Dr. Kasia has been practicing since

2013. Our day started in the morning at Solo Eye Care in the South Loop neighborhood of

Chicago, just off of Michigan Avenue.

A typical day, most of our patients consisted of established and returning patients either

coming in for routine vision and eye health check-ups or maintaining and monitoring patients in

their after-care from ophthalmic surgeries. On a normal day, Dr. Kasia expects to see around

13-14 patients, most of which are for routine vision maintenance, but about 1-2 per day have

emergent eye issues which she will asses before referring out to an ophthalmologist. When

patients arrive, they first check-in at the reception desk for their appointment before having an

ICO student, since Solo Eye Care is an externship site for the college of optometry, perform all

of the pre-tests before Dr. Kasia’s examination. These tests include a vision check,

autorefraction, optomap photos, along with tests for eye pressure and overall health. The

student will then report his or her assessment notes to Dr. Kasia where she will then re-check

the patients’ vision and update any eyeglass or contact prescription using a manual phoropter

and check the health of the eye with use of a slit lamp. After every exam, Dr. Kasia explains to

the patient how they should proceed with new eyeglasses or contacts and answers any

questions that the may have about their time in the office. Most patients we saw received

updated vision prescriptions and received information about how to best manage their allergies

and dry eye, but one patient who we noticed had an enlarged optic nerve from his optomap

photos coupled with high eye pressure measurements, Dr. Kasia notified him about needing

routine check-ups to monitor for glaucoma.

Dr. Kasia has been more than I could ever hope for in a mentor, inspiring me to become

the best optometrist possible and helping me get started with my optometric career. I am

proud to be attending the same optometry school as her and look forward to being able to

learn from her and seek her help in my future education. Again, I would like to say thank you for

the honor of being selected to receive the Ming Chen Foundation scholarship which will help

me in my pursuit to become the best primary vision care provider I can be.

Scholarship Recipient Caleb Shumway

The Eye Institute of West Florida

I received the Ming Chen Foundation scholarship to visit a mentor in my area of interest- so I

chose to visit Dr. Rob Weinstock and Dr. Neel Desai at The Eye Institute of West Florida. In the

days that I visited the clinic and operating rooms, I saw the world of cornea, cataract, and

refractive surgery open up to me like I had never seen before.

The practice was started by Dr. Rob Weinstock’s father, Dr. Stephen Weinstock, in 1974. Dr.

Rob explains that when he joined the practice over 20 years ago, they were a high-volume

practice focused primarily on cornea-refractive procedures. He explained to me that their

practice has always aimed for perfection in patient outcomes, and created a system to make

the process safe and efficient, while providing an excellent level of customer service. A few

minutes in clinic shows what makes the practice so special. The technicians, nurses,

optometrists, and physician assistants function as a cohesive team: discussing aspects of care

among one another, asking each other questions, and carefully triaging the cases to the

subspecialists. When Dr. Rob or Dr. Desai walk into the patient’s room, there is a palpable sense

of presence and attention, coupled with a comfort that puts the patient at ease.

Dr. Rob explained to me that over the years he applied the same principles of meticulous

attention to detail he learned from his father in LASIK and PRK to the area of cataract surgery.

When a patient checks in to the in-house operating room, the coordinated dance really begins,

as the anesthesiologists, scrub techs and nurses prepare each patient for their procedure.

There is a system orchestrated so that any team member at any time can immediately

identifying the patient’s name, operative eye, medical conditions, allergies, all the way down to

the biometry and lens calculations. This works so each member of the team can function to

safely and efficiently treat each patient.

Observing surgery with Dr. Rob and Dr. Desai, and also with their fellow Dr. Caroline Watson,

was truly inspiring for me at this stage in my career. In between cases the doctors were

extremely generous with their time in answering my questions about their surgical techniques

and preferences. All of the cataract surgeries I observed were performed using bimanual

phacoemulsification, which differs from conventional coaxial phaco by separating the irrigation

from the aspiration for a two-handed technique. This technique allows for micro incisions,

excellent chamber stability, and well-controlled fluidics. In the proper hands and with the right

parameters the surgery is extremely safe and efficient.

Dr. Rob has distinguished himself as a pioneer. He is an early adopter and inventor of multiple

technologies including micro-incisional cataract surgery, 3D visualization, microinstrumentation

and accommodative implants. When I ask him about how he got involved with these projects,

he humbly explains that he started out sharing about medications and devices he was using at

conferences, always being careful with his assessments. Over time he was invited to try more

new devices, eventually leading to his collaboration in inventing some of these himself.

I was extremely grateful to all of those at the eye institute for their time and goodwill in taking

me under their wing for a few days. Having this experience at the end of my second year of residency was the boost I needed to inspire me toward greater excellence in cataract surgery. I

am also extremely grateful to Dr. Ming Chen and the foundation for making the experience

possible. While I couldn’t visit Dr. Chen in Hawaii this time due to the difficulty of traveling such

a long distance, I am very grateful to him for his guidance and helpfulness- he is an inspiring

physician, pioneer and humanitarian.

Since I was first exposed to the world of ophthalmology I have been fascinated with the

prospect of improving a patient’s vision surgically. Whether it be in the world of cornea,

cataract and refractive surgery or another subspecialty, I highly recommend this scholarship

experience to anyone.

The Ming Chen Foundation Donates to TSCRS

The Taiwan Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons, TSCRS, established in 2005, has held many academic symposia and technical seminars since 2007, which allows TSCRS to continue to grow and thrive. The major goal of TSCRS is to promote surgical techniques and provide cutting edge advancement of cataract and refractive surgery, to facilitate clinical education, training and research in the field of cataract and refractive surgery in Taiwan and abroad, and to strengthen the communications between the government and private institutions.


The 17th annual meeting of the Taiwan Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons will be held by The TSCRS on July 9th-10th. It is an important and valuable meeting with cutting edge advancements and novel technology. The organizing committee will arrange up-to-date academic program and exciting video competition during the congress. The spotlights of the meeting include but not limit to 3D head-up cataract durgery, the art of intraocular lens design, cataract surgery in DM, complicated and challenging cases in cataract surgery, advanced IOL power calculation and femtosecond laser refractive & cataract surgery.

The Ming Chen Foundation is donating $2,000 to help sponsor this event.

Junior Scholarship Winner Melissa Takahashi

With this scholarship, I plan to continue my education at Leeward Community College. I have

recently finished my first semester towards my Associates Degree in Liberal Arts. After I

graduate in 2023, I aim to further my education at the University of Hawaii to pursue

psychology.


This semester, I’ve taken Psychology 100 and Educational Psychology 289 along with my

required courses. In Psychology 100, I learned about the history of psychology and the different

views on it: biological, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, and psychoanalytic. Between these

five views, I learned about the two forms of therapies, insight (psychoanalytic/humanistic) and

habit (behavioral/cognitive). Overall, insight was my favorite because it explores the

subconscious mind, teaches people to understand themselves better, and improves relationships.

This form of psychotherapy differs from habit therapy which is often biomedical but is equally

as intriguing in how it centers on why people think or act a certain way. Through this unit, I

enjoyed learning about psychological disorders, symptoms, and disorders on a molecular level.

Through mental health services, I plan on becoming a psychotherapist, psychologist, or school

counselor/psychologist. Many psychologists and therapists offer an eclectic approach, a

combination of insight and habit therapies, and I will most likely pursue this route.


Educational Psychology taught me different types of learning styles and how it relates to

psychology. It covered cognitive psychology, writing lesson plans, and how to utilize

conditioning and learning theories, which apply to students in a classroom setting or patients

through teaching them coping strategies or working through trauma. I am planning to get my

Bachelors in psychology regardless, but I am considering getting a teaching certification if I

pursue secondary teaching instead. Even if I choose to be an intermediate or high school teacher,

it can benefit the medical field. Teachers are mandated reporters and vital in detecting the mental

health and wellbeing of children. Noticing specific behavior can help a child receive a mental

health diagnosis or remove them from an unsafe or abusive environment.


Continuing my studies, I strive to better my knowledge of psychology and use my college

education to help the communities future through education or mental health help and awareness.

Junior Scholarship Recipient Christian Jayme Castillo

I have spent many years figuring out what to do in my life, and once I got into college, I decided to become a mechanical engineer. I have always been fascinated in areas involving science and technology, so naturally, I followed into engineering. But, I discovered that engineering covers many areas of science and so offered me many possibilities in fields of chemistry, biology, robotics, and much more. In my path to become an engineer, I took part in many interesting projects that challenged me intellectually and let me explore new ideas.

Throughout college, I gained much experience and even collaborated with other engineers. I spent plenty of time on lab work and experiments, and for major projects, I have worked in teams to construct drones and human-powered vehicles, which we would enter into engineering competitions. I believe one of my biggest accomplishments came during my final semester of college when my university collaborated with the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for a program to allow students to work at the shipyard for a semester-long course. I was fortunate enough to be chosen as one of the eight students from the entire mechanical engineering school to enroll in the program. I studied under professionals and got to experience real field work. In the end, I was able to produce an official engineering design sketch that would be used to help their ships. My experience in college offered me many opportunities to sharpen my engineering skills, which prepared me for my graduate program.

Currently, I am enrolled in my graduate program and have been working and researching under the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute. For my research, I am looking to improve the production and properties of biochar, utilizing a cleaner production method through a closed system. Biochar has many potential benefits to society and the environment. Biochar is a charcoal substance made from burnt organic material. It possesses strong adsorption abilities that can help to remove harmful wastes and non-biodegradable contaminants from resources, such as soil and water. These characteristics make biochar a greener alternative for most charcoal products and may provide a potential way to improve the quality of fuel, feedstock, pharmaceuticals, and much more. I have been performing several tests in the past year and expanded my knowledge on bioengineering. So far, my research has yielded very interesting results that I hope may lead to a significant discovery that benefits the world by improving the health and well-being of people and the environment.

In my endeavors to succeed in my career, I have gained much experience in my field. Through my work, I have broadened my skills and learned the many areas that engineering can affect. Engineers can improve technology, build structures, and create richer and healthier resources. I can accomplish many things through the work that I conduct. As I continue my work in my graduate program, I hope to seek support in my path to earning my master’s degree to open even more opportunities to me when I finally go out into the world.