Regenerative medicine aims to cultivate new living tissue to replace or repair function that has been lost as the result of normal aging, disease or trauma.

Imagine staving off the need for an invasive total knee replacement by injecting stem cell tissue. Or consider the possibility that a badly needed organ can be grown and placed into a patient without the risk of rejection by the immune system, which can occur with an organ donated by another person.

The first Pacific Regenerative Medicine Conference will be held Nov. 6-7 at the Hawai‘i Convention Center. State Sen. Josh Green, an emergency room physician, will deliver a keynote presentation on regenerative medicine in Hawaii’s health landscape.

A broad range of topics will be presented, including how best to manage inflammation responsible for chronic disease, treatment of muscle and bone problems, healing of age-related skin changes, strategies to improve reduced kidney function, 3-D bioprinting and more.

With any emerging field or industry, there are always early questions. How well does it work? Is it safe? What is the cost and who has access? Will it result in increasing health disparities? Are there providers who are jumping on the bandwagon just to make a buck and willing to sacrifice the sacred art of medicine?

I will be hosting one panel with a representative of the FDA to discuss its legal authority and regulation governing stem cell products and to review the thinking behind recent warning letters.

There will also be a panel discussion on medical tourism and the potential for regenerative medicine to be a meaningful draw for visitors to Hawaii. My consulting firm Global Advisory Services fulfilled an extended contract with the Hawaii Tourism Authority several years ago on health tourism. In our final report, among the conclusions were that health tourism is best defined by the intention of the visitor. It might involve meaningful contact with the host culture, a spa experience, interaction with the natural environment, education or an act of service.

While medical tourism is one element of health and wellness opportunities Hawaii could offer its visitors, one has to ask why someone interested in regenerative medicine would come to Hawaii rather than Stanford, Harvard or the Mayo Clinic. Demand is particularly strong from the Chinese, who are increasingly affluent and seem to have waning confidence in their nation’s health care. They are increasingly traveling abroad seeking not only health care, but also real estate, education for their children and a clean, safe environment. I have worked with several groups from Asia both as a consultant and also to provide integrative services offered by Manakai o Malama Integrative Healthcare Group and Rehabilitation Center.

Hawaii remains unique with respect not only to its sand and surf, but also its clean air and water and a renaissance of its host culture almost 50 years in the making. To combine these strengths with cutting-edge medical services such as regenerative medicine may be viable. Certainly, as headroom and airlift creep upward and visitor numbers continue to break records, Hawaii would be best served by a more refined visitor who sincerely respects the host culture and natural resources. A visitor who would also come for medical care and have the resources to pay for it would make a good fit for the aina and the economy.

This conference is designed for researchers and medical providers. High school students studying science and their parents and chaperones will have free admission. College science students will be offered a reduced fee. Several sessions and events are open to the public.

Ira “Kawika” Zunin, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., is a practicing physician. He is medical director of Manakai o Malama Integrative Healthcare Group and Rehabilitation Center and CEO of Global Advisory Services Inc. Please submit your questions to info@manakaiomalama.com.