Dr. Cyril Goshima
Below is a summary of an interview between Lani Teves and Dr. Cyril Goshima conducted in May 2024.
Dr. Cyril Goshima grew up in Pālolo with his parents and two sisters in the 1960s. A practicing Catholic, Dr. Goshima attended Maryknoll School before enrolling at the University of Washington. He returned home to Hawaiʻi and trained at the University of Hawaiʻi John A. Burns School of Medicine. After completing medical school he took an internship at the US Public Health Service in Staten Island, NY. He then continued his public health service working at Indian Health service in Arizona with the Navajo tribe. He returned to Hawaiʻi and completed his residency in internal medicine and started working at a clinic in Waikīkī while he was building his own practice in Kaimukī.
As Dr. Goshima was putting his practice together, an unknown virus began to spread. As the chairman of the Hawaiʻi Medical Association Infection Control Committee, he was vocal about new illnesses impacting the local community. Fear and ignorance were common around the topic of HIV/AIDS. On September 19, 1986 Dr. Cyril Goshima testified before the Board of Education against a proposal to ban children with AIDS from attending public schools in Hawaiʻi. Despite testimonies by parents who feared their children would be exposed, the Board rejected the proposal. Physicians like Goshima and Dr. David McEwan were vocal in educating the Department of Health and Department of Education on how AIDS was transmitted. In October 1987, he was appointed to Governor Waiheʻe’s Committee on AIDS. The committee was tasked with doing the difficult work of establishing guidelines and support systems during the AIDS crisis. As a result of this committees’ work, Hawaiʻi was a leader in AIDS prevention and education. He remained on the Committee for over a decade and served as chairman throughout the early and mid-1990s.
“There were many [people] that we had to consult on during that period of time, not only them, but their families. I met some of the best families in the world and some of the worst. The ones that were the best, I just could not believe how much they cared for the person that had AIDS. A lot of times they were actually their spouse. They didn’t know that they were gay. They only knew they were gay because they had to know to get tested and they were getting sicker and sicker and taking care of them. When they died, some of them stayed with them, married to them until the very end. It still breaks me up because you can find that much kind of love in the world, that you can deal with adversity with that. I think that’s for me, why I really value that. I feel like I’ve been blessed in many ways. Dealing with a lot of that…especially some of the gay local people.”
Across the span of his life, Dr. Goshima observed the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ+ individuals to find supportive and knowledgeable healthcare providers, especially in primary care. He worked as an advocate for all his patients and especially for those impacted by the HIV/AIDS crisis. He describes that he “grew up in AIDS” as the HIV/AIDS crisis pushed him into leadership roles and in some ways “out of the closet” and into being a prominent member of government committees and medical associations. On a personal level, Dr. Goshima balanced his personal identity as a gay man with how his patients may have perceived him and how to best provide care for people who were struggling. In the interview, he recalls:
He notes that it was very difficult for many years because of fears within the local community and strong religious influences, making HIV education and support challenging, and local people especially felt like they did not have anyone or anywhere to turn to.
Listen to the full oral history interview above to learn more about Dr. Cyril Goshima and his experiences as a local physician and gay man who was a key actor in the response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in Hawaiʻi. During the course of his career, he became the Executive Director for the AIDS Education Training Center of the University of Hawaiʻi and he helped countless physicians and nurses across the Pacific to treat patients living with HIV/AIDS. The training center later became the Pacific AIDS Education & Training Center - Hawaiʻi & US-Affiliated Pacific Islands that continues to provide clinical training for under-resourced Pacific Island nations. Dr. Goshima was recognized by the Hawaiʻi State Department of Health with the Suzanne Richmond-Crum award in 2006 for his contributions to HIV/AIDS care and after retiring in 2022, he was awarded the “Kahu Mālama” award from Gregory House for his early work in treating HIV/AIDS patients when no other doctors would. In the oral history, he also describes what it was like growing up in a local Catholic family, how he met his life partner and future husband, and what the gay scene was like for local people in the late 1970s Hawaiʻi.
Image Credits:
Banner - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 3/3/88
1) - Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 10/16/87
2) - Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7/9/96
3) - Hawai’i Health and Harm Reduction Center
Sadly, Dr. Cyril Goshima passed away on October 1, 2024.
His obituary was published in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and posted at hawaiiobituaries.com
CYRIL KAORU GOSHIMA, MD November 13, 1951 October 1, 2024 Cyril Kaoru Goshima, 72, of Honolulu Hawai'i, passed away on October 1, 2024. He was born in Honolulu to Nisei parents, father Robert Yutaka Goshima (family from Sendai, Japan) and Grace Momoyo Tanaka (family from Hiroshima, Japan). He grew up with sisters Elaine and Doreen mostly in the Palolo Valley and Manoa areas on Oahu, Hawai'i.
His parents believed in and provided for a good education through the Catholic religious schools system: Saint Patrick (K-1) and Mary Knoll (2-12). After graduation from high school, he attended the University of Washington in Seattle receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology in 1973. He was then accepted in to the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawai'i in Honolulu and received his MD degree in 1977. He completed his internship in medicine at the United States Public Health Service Hospital in Staten Island, New York in 1978. He interrupted his training to work as a health practitioner at the Navajo Area Indian Health Service at Chinle Health Center in Arizona from 1978 to 1980. He finished his training in Internal Medicine in Hawai'i from 1980 to 1982.
He was in private practice in Kaimuki from 1982 until his retirement in 2021. He was delighted that he could see his family home in Palolo Valley from his office every day.
In addition to his private practice, Cyril was appointed by Governor John Waihe'e to serve on the Governor's Committee on AIDS in 1987. The committee was tasked with establishing guidelines and support systems regarding prevention and education strategies during the AIDS crisis. Cyril was also the Executive Director for the AIDS Education and Training Center of the University of Hawai'i. The center was supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration. The focus of the center was to provide training and support to physicians and nurses in the Pacific Rim countries regarding best practices in treating and caring for patients living with HIV/AIDS. The training center later became the Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center Hawai'i and U.S. Affiliated Pacific Island.
In 2006 the Hawai'i State Department of Health awarded Cyril with the Suzanne Richmond-Crum Award which recognized his outstanding contributions to HIV/AIDS Services. In 2020 the Hawai'i Health and Harm Reduction Center honored Cyril and listed him as part of their "29 Champions". Then in 2022 he was awarded the "Kahu Malama" award from Gregory House for his early work in treating HIV/AIDS patients when other doctors were reluctant to do so.
He met the love of his life, Barry John Baker from Tasmania, Australia, in Honolulu in August 1980. Over the years they traveled the world together and especially loved visiting Europe and Japan. They were both delighted to be able to marry in February 2014.
Cyril believed that who he was and who he became was because of his upbringing that emphasized education, faith, curiosity, love of the natural world, and sharing of time-talent-treasure with his friends and fellow humans. He deeply valued his friends and worked hard to make and keep them. He was dedicated to the care of persons who had HIV/AIDS and felt it was a privilege to help and serve them. This work he believed allowed him to grow personally, spiritually, and in every way.
He is survived by his spouse, Barry John Baker, his elder sister Elaine Mizobe, his niece Mindy Mizobe and her companion Lloyd Grieger. He was predeceased by his parents Robert and Grace Goshima and his younger sister Doreen Goshima.
A memorial mass will be held on Friday, November 1, 2024 at the Newman Center/Holy Spirit Parish adjacent the University of Hawai'i at Manoa campus. Visitation: 5:00 p.m. 5:45 p.m.; Services: 5:45 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. "Now cracks a noble heart. Good night sweet prince: And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!" William Shakespeare, Hamlet.