From the Dean of Medicine at the University of Hawaii to faculty and staff, there are fond memories of Dr. Max Botticelli, who served as Professor of Medicine from 1985-1996. Dr. Botticelli died March 22.
“I owe my career in academics to him.”
Some, like Dr. Marjorie Mau of the Department of Native Hawaiian Health (DNHH) and Associate Dean for Medical Education Richard Kasuya, remembered Dr. Boticelli as the Chair of Medicine who brought them into the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) Faculty.
“He hired me onto the faculty in the Department of Medicine, and as a provider at the Queen Emma Clinics, where he was the Medical Director,” said Kasuya. “He was so supportive and very instrumental in my early faculty years. I realize that I owe my career in academics to him. He was a great role model in so many ways. In my opinion, we lost another ‘giant’.”
Professor William Haning of Psychiatry remembers meeting Dr. Botticelli much earlier, when Haning was still attending Punahou School. “When I was a high school junior, Max was among the private practice community docs who participated in an orientation program for high schoolers,” said Haning. “He connected with me.” After the orientation, Haning recalled, “I (still) didn’t know that I would want to enter medicine. But I did know that I would want him as my doctor.”
