Aug. 20, 2024
Hawai‘i Gov. Josh Green's Rare Parlay
Green translates his medical experience and insights into political leadership.
Designs on Aging-Ready
By Strategic Communications
"So, my road was a little bit different than many people’s in government,” says Hawai‘i Gov. Josh Green.
His starting point arguably began at Pitt Med in 1997 when Green, an MD (Res ’00), landed at UPMC Shadyside as a doctor in training. He honed his skills as a physician there along with a personal and professional mindset that informs how he cares for people and governs in the Aloha State.
Green joined the National Health Service Corps immediately after completing residency and was assigned to Ka‘ū, a large rural district on Hawai‘i’s Big Island. He served with the health corps throughout the next four years and walked away debt free in that relatively short time frame. (More to come on how that influenced his gubernatorial agenda.)
Political aspirations began for Green 20 years ago—about the time he wrapped up his service commitment. He wanted to improve care in areas like Ka‘ū and decided he could be a change agent in state government. So, he ran for state representative and took office in 2004.
“I ran for office because as the National Health Service [Corps] doctor in Ka‘ū, we didn’t have access to any drug treatment or trauma services or mental health care, per se, so I was just worried about people. I ran to make a point that we needed those services in the rural areas,” he says.
“I’m still deeply invested in what I learned as a resident, and I’ve been able to translate that directly.”
Hooman Rashidi, associate dean for artificial intelligence in medicine and professor of pathology
Green served in the state house until 2008 and then in the state senate until 2018, when he became lieutenant governor.
He created or supported several major health care initiatives during his time in the state legislature: Providing health insurance to every child in the state and establishing Luke’s Law to help children with autism get appropriate care, creating the Cancer Research Center, raising the legal age for purchasing tobacco and e-cigarettes to 21, and establishing a statewide trauma health care system.
The state legislature holds sessions only four months out of the year, so Green was able to remain a full-time physician working in family medicine and even emergency care. He intended to keep that up as lieutenant governor, but COVID happened.
“The lieutenant governor job, which tends to be kind of a mellow, less impactful position than many, became lieutenant governor on steroids because COVID hit, and I ended up being responsible for our response,” he says. Green rode his track record and popularity into the governor’s office in 2023, then found himself responding to another crisis when wind-driven wildfires erupted in the state in August, killing 101 people and causing widespread devastation, primarily on the island of Maui.
Amid the ongoing disaster response, Green also remains mindful of other needs of Hawai‘i residents. He’s pushed through legislation that relieves student loan debt for medical professionals who commit to practicing in Hawai‘i—the Healthcare Education Loan Repayment Program (HELP). He says the benefit of having his medical debt wiped out through his health corps commitment 20 years ago played a prominent role in creating the program.
“We have an extreme shortage of health care providers in our state, mostly physicians and nurses,” Green says. The National Health Service relieves some of that, yet the new legislation broadens the benefit for health care professionals such as social workers, psychologists and nurse practitioners, he adds.
N. Randall Kolb (MD ’82, Res ’85), a clinical associate professor of family medicine at Pitt, says what he hears about Green’s ability to make a difference is not surprising.
“He was an enthusiastic resident who was interested in learning more than about just medicine,” says Kolb, an attending at UPMC Shadyside during Green’s residency and today. “For one, he expressed a real interest in underserved patient populations—in folks who had been marginalized.”
Kolb remembers the nurses Green worked with at UPMC Shadyside described him as having a Patch Adams personality.
“I knew Josh, and I’ve been watching some of the things he’s been doing,” Kolb says.
“I know that while he was here, he would do things that clearly made people feel that he not only cared but was very competent.”
Deciding to transition from physician to politician is rare, though Green says he’s sought guidance from previous doctors who became governors, such as John Kitzhaber, an MD from Oregon, and Howard Dean, an MD from Vermont.
“I’m still deeply invested in what I learned as a resident, and I’ve been able to translate that directly,” Green says.
“I go and assess things as a physician would, which really makes you sensitive to people’s emotional state.”