Meet Our Two June 2026 Cover Doctors: Dr. Janice Harada and Dr. David Cho

Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino

Trusted Advocate

Dr. Janice Harada says she loves taking care of patients and being there for them through all life stages. She was recently named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for the third year in a row.

By Katrina Valcourt

As a primary care physician, Dr. Janice Harada says she’s honored to have been part of her patients’ lives for decades. “I’ve taken care of patients from graduating from high school and then seeing them through college or their careers, and then getting married and having kids,” she says. She’s also seen patients become grandparents and navigate retirement. “It’s all the different life stages. It’s just been a pleasure to be able to take care of them.”

The proud Moanalua High grad says her curiosity about science and love of working with people set her on a path to medicine, which led to the University of Hawai‘i and the John A. Burns School of Medicine. She entered private practice in the late ’90s and has been an internist with The Queen’s Health Systems since 2022. In 2014 she joined the board of Queen’s Clinically Integrated Physician Network, a collaboration between Queen’s and community physicians and physician organizations. One of the network’s goals is to make health care more affordable and available to everyone, Harada says.

Though she recently stepped down from the board, she says she feels lucky to have been part of the growth of primary care at Queen’s. “It’s crucial for everyone to have a primary care provider that they can go to and that they trust,” Harada says. “Medicine is very collaborative—I work with a lot of specialists—and I just really enjoy that whole aspect of how we can all get together to take care of our patients.” She says that going to work is fun and that she’s grateful for how rewarding and fulfilling it is.

Outside of day-to-day patient care, Harada says she enjoys spending time with her Havanese, Sophie, and knitting. She still plays tennis, though not as much as she used to; nowadays, she says she stays active by walking, playing golf and snowboarding in Tahoe with her husband and son.

Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino

A Destined Career

Dr. David Cho, named one of this year’s Castle Connolly Top Doctors, knew early in life that he could apply his diverse interests as a plastic surgeon.

By Diane Seo

In high school, Dr. David Cho considered how his interests in science, health, psychology and the visual arts could shape a future career. Plastic surgery came to mind, and when he shadowed plastic surgeons in his Northern California community, their encouragement and mentoring inspired him to take a path he’s still on today. “I remember telling my grandma when I was in high school that I wanted to be a plastic surgeon on O‘ahu, and that came true,” says Cho, now a cosmetic and reconstructive surgeon at Straub Benioff Medical Center.

While Cho’s science acumen is essential as a doctor, it’s his visual arts talents in photography, oil painting and drawing that he says instilled an appreciation and understanding of artistic beauty. “It has to do with having a sense of balance, proportion, symmetry versus asymmetry, and having an eye for that,” Cho says. “In the operating room—actually, even before while planning an operation—you study the ‘before’ photographs and get in your mind what has to happen. That’s using artistic talent to analyze that. Then once you’re in the operating room, you’re deploying your skills.

“It makes the practice of plastic surgery enjoyable because you see it all come together.”

His favorite part, however, is hearing from patients about how the various procedures he performed made them happier, more confident and comfortable with themselves. “Some say it changed their lives,” Cho says. “It makes it worthwhile being part of their stories.”

Cho started his practice 16 years ago at Straub and has remained there throughout his career. His work includes treating burn patients at the hospital’s specialized burn unit, the only one of its kind in the Pacific. “You have to have skills in burns to work here,” he says. “And that’s part of my commitment to the community in my practice, to do some burn work when it’s required.”

It’s gratifying, he says, seeing someone go from a “devastating situation” to being discharged in good spirits. He also likes the teamwork that’s necessary with treating burns, since it involves doctors, nurses, therapists, chaplains, dietitians and others.

On New Year’s Eve 2024, he was among the team that treated severe burn victims from the tragic fireworks explosion at a home in Āliamanu. In that incident, six people died, including a 3-year-old, and more than two dozen others were injured, some severely.

Cho was on call that night and in the thick of the tragedy. “It brought me back to my days working in trauma during my training,” he says. “It was the largest mass casualty burn event in Hawai‘i, so it was a very intense experience.”

Despite the chaos, Cho says patients got the care they needed. While some patients were transferred to a burn hospital in Arizona, 10 patients remained at Straub.

“We cared for those with the most severe burns,” he recalls. “One person was discharged after a couple of weeks, but the last person was discharged after four months, I believe.”

While treating burn patients and performing reconstructive surgery may seem quite different from cosmetic surgery, Cho says they’re synergistic. “I was taught by my mentors that reconstructive surgery makes you a better cosmetic surgeon, and cosmetic surgery makes you a better reconstructive surgeon. So, they complement each other, especially with complex problems. I went into the field knowing that I wanted to have both be part of my practice.”

Diane Seo is the editorial director of HONOLULU Magazine.

Katrina Valcourt is the executive editor of HONOLULU Magazine.