Founded in 1947, The Japanese American Medical Association (JAMA) is a Southern California non-profit, tax-exempt organization, comprised of physicians and spouses. JAMA's physicians are involved in multiple medical specialties and subspecialties, and practice either in a private practice-based or university-based setting.
JAMA's purposes are to maintain and advance the professionalism of its physicians in the communities of Southern California and to promote the social relationships of its members and spouses.
JAMA's members are active in:
- Providing excellent medical care to their communities
- Providing a social network for its members
- Supporting physicians of the future, by providing yearly scholarships for medical students
- Supporting community events in health-related endeavors
- JAMA's history during and after the imprisonment; the final product, Silent Scars of Healing Hands, is unfortunately out of print, but efforts are under way in partnership with Japanese American National Museum, to have this very important work re-published. We'll keep you up to date about the progress of this re-publication, which hopefully will be available again for purchase soon!
Our Mission
The mission of JAMA is to preserve and transmit the legacy of our founding members who embodied the importance of providing excellent health care & service to our communities. JAMA actively supports medical students & physicians-in-training and provides its members with a setting for professional networking and social interaction.
History of JAMA
The Japanese American Medical Association was established in 1947 and is the oldest Japanese American professional group in Southern California. JAMA was founded to create a social and professional network for members to share information, to establish referrals for patients, and to socialize with spouses and other physicians. At the time of JAMA's establishment, Japanese physicians were not permitted to practice in most Los Angeles hospitals, making cooperative communication imperative.
JAMA has obtained a tax-exempt status that permitted it to become a charitable organization for sponsorship of a Scholarship Fund. The first Scholarship Awards were presented on April 29, 2007 to two outstanding medical students. JAMA has also completed its book, Silent Scars of Healing Hands, to record the oral histories of some of its pioneering members of the World War II internment period. The publication, funded by the California Civil Liberties Education Program, represents a medical legacy for future generations.
On June 10, 1997, the Japanese American Cultural Community Center presented the President's Award to JAMA for 50 years of distinguished service to the community. JAMA has enjoyed a significant history, reflective of its members and their achievements, and looks forward to continued growth in our organization.
Upcoming Events
Our next JAMA Scholarship Banquet is tentatively scheduled on 4/19/2026 as a Sunday luncheon. We are planning to have it at the Oakmont Country Club in Glendale, and our entertainment will be a short movie about Sei Fujii, who I consider the equivalent of Martin Luther King Jr. of the Nikkei community, along with author Jeffrey Gee Chin, and the Little Tokyo Historical Society. Sei Fujii challenged the US Supreme Court to allow the opening of Japanese Hospital in 1929, and overturning the Alien Land Law in 1952. I will provide more details as the date draws near.
Koreisha Senior Care & Advocacy and JAMA are also planning our yearly Nikkei Health Fair on Sunday in the fall of 2026, and our host will be the Maryknoll Catholic Church, and I will keep you posted as the date draws near.
Past Events
We had a fun and interactive Spring Banquet in April of 2025, with Kendo performance from Dr. Kenji Irie, painting display by Dr. Takeshi Matsumoto, ceramic & pottery display by Dr. John Sasaki, and 1000 cranes & miniature art display by Karen Arase, at the La Canada Flintridge Country Club, as we awarded our 18th JAMA Scholarship recipient to Mason Sakamoto! See the pictures below! We like to thank our sponsors again, Bulgantamir Enkh-Erdene and Khaliun Otgonbat, for allowing us to use the La Canada Flintridge Country Club.
For many years, the Taisho Club use to provide an annual Nikkei health fair, but due to its aging members, the Taisho club disbanded ~5 years ago. In attempt to resurrect the tradition of the Taisho club, JAMA provided physician support for the Nikkei health fair (picture above & below), in coordination with Koreisha Senior Care & Advocacy (www.koreishasca.org), and on 10/29/23, and 10/26/24 at the Maryknoll Japanese Catholic Center, provided general health information to the Nikkei community! This would not have been possible without the work of Toshiko Sugiyama (KSCA volunteer), John Kanai (president of KSCA), Masano Siu (KSCA volunteer), Shinichiro Koga (KSCA volunteer), Shun Sekiguchi (KSCA volunteer), and Michael Toji (secretary of KSCA). Much thanks to our KSCA colleagues, physicians, medical staff, Japanese translators, volunteers, and all of our sponsors, which included Keiro, who made all this possible.
The JAMA auxiliary hosted Jeanne Kanemistu, an artist in Japanese handcrafted cardmaking, at the JACCC on 9/21/24. Jeanne now lives in Las Vegas, but came all the way to perform a demonstration, with proceeds from her sales going to JAMA. I've included pictures of her work, with cards so nice, you'd want to frame them.
Interesting Links
If you're interested in viewing our Zoom conference that was held on 3/19/24, which was a powerpoint presentation (English w/ Japanese translation), titled "Cancer in the Nikkei Community," please copy the URL below to KSCA's website that has the video on youtube:
https://www.koreishasca.org/post/ksca-2024-medical-seminar-1-cancer-in-the-nikkei-community-was-held-via-zoom-on-march-19th-2024
If you'd like to read our memorial edition of our newsletter from 2025 where we give a tribute to our past JAMA members and supporters, please copy the link below.
https://mailchi.mp/f408c0eb9a6a/jama-newsletter-january-2019-please-forward-to-interested-colleagues-16530473
