The Pacific Disabilities Center of the John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaiʻi, leads projects that improve the lives of persons with disabilities by integrating culturally-based, community-engaged, and technologically innovative solutions throughout the Pacific.

About Us

The Pacific Disabilities Center (formerly the Pacific Basin Rehabilitation Research and Training Center) was founded in 1984. It began with a single 10-year grant to provide a bridge to physical and vocational rehabilitation for persons with disabilities post-discharge from the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific. The grant was funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research and focused on Micronesia and other territories and islands.

From there, PDC expanded to projects on a wide variety of topics, including rehabilitation capacity-building, self-employment outcomes, farm workers with disabilities, rehabilitation technology, transitioning for youth with disabilities, emergency preparedness for persons with disabilities and special health needs, projects with industry, traumatic brain injury implementation project, and much more.

PDC is a part of the Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii (RCUH) and is affiliated with the John A. Burns School of Medicine. It is staffed by a multidisciplinary team with professional training and knowledge in many areas, including research, evaluation, social work, communication, community development, entrepreneurship, planning and coordination, political science, social media and marketing, project management, public policy, public health, technology, and business.

Dr LBL