On August 3, University Health Partners Women’s Health Specialists in Hilo welcomed Dr. Paris Stowers as a full-time member of their team. But Dr. Stowers is not exactly a newcomer to the clinic. As a part of her training for a fellowship at the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) in Honolulu, which she began in 2018 and completed this year, she would fly to Hilo once a month to work at UHP’s OBGYN Hilo clinic with Dr. Emily Stickley and Dr. Celeste Adrian. That monthly trip not only resulted in her appointment as a physician at the Hilo clinic, but also led her to the place she wanted to call home.
Her new position offers Dr. Stowers the perfect combination of qualities that she was seeking, she says, since she wanted to practice in a small community, but “did not want to lose the resources of an academic institution.” Dr. Stowers is referring to the fact that UHP is the faculty practice of JABSOM, the only medical school which trains physicians in the state of Hawaii. Her new position with UHP not only places her in the kind of community she wanted for her practice, but also allows her, as she says, “to maintain my involvement in academic medicine.”
The opportunities that Dr. Stowers values as a UHP physician are those that put UHP doctors, as JABSOM’s teaching doctors, at such an advantage. “Opportunities for professional development, access to mentors and specialists, opportunities to participate in medical education, and access to research infrastructure,” are the particular benefits she mentions when explaining why she feels that her new position is the perfect fit for her.
Dr. Stowers’ primary goal is to provide patient-centered, evidence-based obstetrics and gynecological care for her patients. She explains that for her, “’Patient-centered’ means the patient plays an active role in every aspect of the medical decision-making process. It means that my values or priorities as a physician may differ from my patient’s priorities. The first step is to center that decision around the patient’s goals and values.”
The list of educational degrees, publications, licenses, work experience, and honors that fill Dr. Stowers’ CV is truly long and impressive. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree graduating Summa Cum Laude from the University of Georgia in 2009, then a Medical Doctorate from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York. Then, she came to Honolulu to do her fellowship work in Complex Family Planning at JABSOM/UHP, while simultaneously earning a Master of Science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Clinical and Translational Research.
Dr. Stowers says that she chose to practice obstetrics and gynecology because it is “the perfect combination of procedures and preventive care. I also like that I am able to care for my patients over different stages of life.”
She said she chose a specialty in family planning because it prepares her to provide comprehensive reproductive health care for her patients. “I was also interested in the advocacy and research training included in a family planning fellowship,” she adds. “I feel that I am in a great position with the necessary skills to address my patients’ reproductive needs.”
So how are things going so far for this new UHP physician? “Wonderful!” she says. “Everyone has been incredibly welcoming to me. I feel very fortunate to have such supportive staff and colleagues. I am really enjoying living and working here.”
To schedule an appointment with Dr. Paris Stowers or one of the other great physicians at UHP’s Women’s Health Specialists at our Hilo location, please call 808-961-6608.
