Thank you for joining us at the 72nd Annual Conference at the Sheraton Princess Ka’iulani Hotel. This was a new venue for the HVMA, but we enjoyed being back in the heart of Waikiki and seeing friends old and new.
We had a packed exhibit hall with 34 exhibitors, 2 day of labs and workshops including orthopedic surgery, pain management, and fish medicine. Our 3 days of lectures featured 4 concurrent sessions with something for everyone, including a dedicated veterinary technician track. At the Annual HVMA Hui we were visited by AVMA Past-President Sandra Faeh and District X Director Dick Sullivan. We also enjoyed a wet but delicious Dinner at the Zoo on Saturday night.
Save the date for our 73rd Annual Conference November 12-15, 2026 at the Sheraton Princess Ka’iulani Hotel. Registration will open in the summer. In the meantime, keep at eye on our conference website for more information!
The new year means it’s time to renew your membership for 2026! Why be a member of the HVMA? Your participation in local organized veterinary medicine makes our voice stronger. We actively advocate to promote Hawaii’s veterinary profession in the eyes of the public and the legislature. We support you and your staff by keeping you up to date with important news that impacts you as veterinary health professionals, maintaining online resources, coordinating local veterinary disaster response, and bringing top-notch continuing education in Hawaii. Your dues help to support all of this and more.
Choose the automatic annual renewal option and never forget to renew your membership again! If you can’t remember whether you signed up for automatic renewals, feel free to email us to check before registering again. Automatic renewal option will be available until February 28. Your renewal date will be one year from registration.
Born and raised on Oʻahu, Dr. Blaine Ishizu serves as the new graduate representative for the Hawaiʻi Veterinary Medical Association (HVMA). He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa before attending Colorado State University, where he completed his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 2022.
Blaine currently practices mixed animal medicine at Veterinary Associates in Waimea, providing comprehensive general and emergency care for dogs, cats, horses, and livestock. He is committed to supporting Hawaiʻi Island’s pets and livestock through compassionate, community-focused veterinary care.
When he is not working, Blaine enjoys spending time with his three German Shepherds—Mana, Icee, and Anna—while exploring the Big Island. He looks forward to meeting everyone at the next conference.
The New Year is here, and we wanted to send a friendly reminder that it’s time to renew your membership with the Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association.
Your annual dues directly fund the key activities that benefit you and our community:
Advocacy: We support legislative work specifically aimed at advancing your veterinary profession here in Hawaii. There are several bills in the upcoming legislative session that could impact you!
Continuing Education (CE): We organize professional development and educational events to support your ongoing learning. We are hoping to include more events throughout the year in addition to the annual conference.
Network: We facilitate collaboration among Hawaii’s veterinary and animal advocacy groups, strengthening your professional connections.
Since her graduation from veterinary medical school with a focus on aquatic animal medicine; Dr. Shaw has dedicated her career to the wellbeing of animals wild and free. (And to those living with humans too).
During her field time as an aquatic animal veterinarian; Dr. Shaw worked with migrating sea birds, Hawaiian green sea turtles, fishes, and endangered marine mammal species, such as the Hawaiian monk seal (HMS), among others. Playing a pivotal role in the success of the HMS Critter Cam project, and other telemetry studies, Dr. Shaw facilitated further understanding of the habits of the HMS as well as protection of their prey species, foraging/feeding grounds, and pupping habitat.
Upon becoming acutely aware of the severity of the world’s animal overpopulation crisis, Dr. Shaw had also turned her attention and energy towards solving this dilemma, which threatens animal welfare as well as human health.
Compassionately crusading for humane population reduction and health care for those animals, often otherwise uncared for, became the main direction of her career before 2020. She has put together large volume reproductive control clinics or joined others already doing so in Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Indonesia, India, Nepal, Samoa, and domestically as well.
When not crusading for animals overseas, Dr. Shaw can be found on Kauai as well as traveling to share her abundant knowledge of holistic medicine.
Dr. Shaw uses rehabilitation and regenerative medical modalities such as: acupuncture, chiropractic, frequency medicine, healing laser, herbs, homeopathy, hydrotherapy, ozone therapy, regenerative injection therapies, deep tissue massage, myofascial release, Rolf method of structural integration, TCVM, and nutrition, to enhance the quality of life of her patients.
Dr. Shaw firmly believes it’s not just about adding years to their lives but adding quality to those years…
In an effort to become even better at this goal, Dr. Shaw is pursuing a Masters degree in TCVM through Chi university in Florida.
In her free time she enjoys helping babies be born peacefully at home, sailing, swimming, scuba, surfing, traveling, learning foreign languages, practicing and teaching yoga as well as dabbling in plant based cooking.
Dr. Heidi Choy is a small animal vet currently practicing at Oahu Veterinary Clinic. She is originally from Mo’ili’ili and graduated from Maryknoll High School. She received her Bachelor’s in Biochemistry from Santa Clara University and her veterinary degree at Purdue University in Indiana. After school, she moved to Seattle, where she spent six years working at Rainier Veterinary Hospital and volunteering at the Seattle Humane Society and PAWS.
In 2016, Dr. Choy returned to Hawaii to be closer to family. She spent many years as the treasurer for the Honolulu Veterinary Society.
Dr. Choy has a 13 month old little girl who keeps her busy! She loves traveling (especially to National Parks), hiking, solving escape rooms, and she has a Staffordshire Bull Terrier named Bowie.
HVMA would like to congratulate our 2025 scholarship recipients this year! We had a record number of applicants and it was very difficult to choose our awardees. Your dues help to provide these scholarships and support our local veterinary students – thank you!
Kylie Ebisuya Washington State University
Kylie Ebisuya is a rising third year student at the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine who intends to practice in small animal clinical medicine when she returns to Hawaii. She has a strong interest in organized veterinary medicine and serves as the WSU Student American Veterinary Medical Association (SAVMA) President. She is also a WSU Clinical Skills lab peer instructor, a position that requires strong clinical skills, approachability, creativity, calm demeanor, and the ability to work with all types of people. Kylie received a B.S. in Animal Sciences and a B.A.in Japanese from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. While an undergraduate student, she worked at The Pet Clinic in Honolulu and was active in the research laboratories of Dr. Birendra Mishra and Dr. Jenee Odani.
Eric Fukawa Oregon State University
Eric Fukawa will also be starting his third year at the Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine at Oregon State University this September. Eric grew up in Mililani and is a proud graduate of Damien Memorial School Class of 2016. His aim is to focus on small animal general practice with interest in small animal surgery. Eric is looking forward to coming back to Hawaii to serve his community when he graduates.
This year we are moving our annual conference back to Waikiki at the Sheraton Princess Ka’iulani Hotel! Labs will be offered on Nov 5-6, 2025, including Essentials for Fracture Repair for General Practitioners and Stabilization of Unstable Joints, Dental Radiography Positioning, Physical Medicine and Pain Management Workshop, and a hands on Laser Lab. See more lab details here.
Multiple track lectures will fill Nov 7-9, 2025, including ophthalmology, internal medicine, soft tissue surgery, anesthesia and analgesia, and an equine track on Saturday. Veterinary technician specific lectures will be offered on Saturday and Sunday. The HVMA Hui (Annual Business Meeting) will occur over lunch on Saturday, and we will be holding our annual social event with dinner at the Zoo on Saturday evening.
Registration is now open for attendees and exhibitors. Remember to log in to your HVMA online account to receive the discounted registration rates for active members. Discounted group room rates at the Sheraton Princess Ka’iulani will be posted soon and must be booked by October 1, 2025.
Check out our conference page for more information as we will continue to post details such as the conference schedule and speaker bios. Please join us for great RACE-approved CE, our lively exhibit hall, food, and fellowship with your local vet community!
The 33rd annual Hawaii Pet Expo is coming up next month from May 3-4, 2025 10am-4pm. This event will be held at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall in Honolulu, Hawaii and is free to the public.
We are looking for volunteers from the veterinary community to help us make this event a success! If you’re willing to volunteer, please sign up at the link below beforeMonday, April 21, 2025.
HVMA BOOTH • Ask-A-Vet • Answer questions and encourage public to enjoy the educational displays in the booth
GREETERS • Pass out programs, poop bags • Aid in helping attendees with strollers, wheelchairs, etc through turnstiles • Smile
FOODBANK / INFO BOOTH • Be able to answer questions, direct vendors and public to booth area • Lost and found center • Be able to find security, expo organizers • Collection and packing of food donations • Collection of monetary donations • Coordinate volunteers (show where shirts are and their work areas)
MAKE & TAKE CRAFT BOOTH • Help kids and adult with crafts • Encourage participation
SHOW MARSHALS • Walk around exhibition hall and outside to clean-up spills and accidents (take poop to outside dumpster) • Mop areas where there has been accidents • Make sure exhibition hall doors are closed • Remind pet owners to keep dogs leashed or secured and have cats, birds and pocket pets in carriers for the safety of all pets involved • Assist exhibitors with removal of trash and put in outside dumpster • All cleaning supplies provided (poop bags, disinfectants, mops)
SNACK BAR • Help pet owners create snacks for pets
Raquel Wong, DVM, has been with the Hawaii Department of Agriculture for almost 25 years and has a wide breadth of experience within the Animal Industry Division working in all branches of the Division. Dr. Wong earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and graduated from Colorado State University with a degree in veterinary medicine. Dr. Wong enjoys spending her free time with family both on Oahu and the Big Island, caring for 3 large dogs, and keeping busy with many hobbies.
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