Education

Dr. Hiranaka received his dental degree from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (Magna Cum Laude) in 1988 and his medical Degree from Harvard Medical School in 1990. He published two research papers as part of his graduate requirements. One on the stability of two-jaw orthognathic (reconstructive jaw) surgery and the other on facial proportions in the southern Chinese face.

Residency and Fellowship

Dr. Hiranaka completed an integrated internship and residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. The program included 18 months of general surgery at the post-graduate year 2 and 3 levels, 2.5 years of Oral and Maxillofacial surgery (analogous to orthopedic surgery of the jaws and facial skeleton) which included rotations in Plastic/Craniofacial surgery (6 months) at Children’s Hospital in Boston and 6 months of anesthesia (Massachusetts General Hospital).
From 1993-1994 Dr. Hiranaka completed a year-long Clinical Fellowship in Facial Cosmet-ic Surgery at the Institute of Facial Surgery in Salt Lake City. This fellowship is certified by the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery. During the fellowship Dr. Hiranaka completed more than 400 facial aesthetic surgeries including facelifts, rhinoplasty, facial implants, otoplasty (ear pin-back), blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery), brow/forehead lift, hair transplant, face and neck liposuction, scar revision, skin resurfacing (laser, chemical and dermabrasion) and soft tissue grafting.

As part of the Fellowship Dr. Hiranaka published two clinical research articles related to facial aesthetic surgery. He has been practicing on the Big Island since 1994.

Board Certification

On completion of his training Dr. Hiranaka applied for and completed rigorous written and oral examinations to become Board Certified by both the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (1997, Re-certification 2007) and the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery (ABCS in Facial Cosmetic Surgery, 2001, Re-certification 2011).

Maintenance of Certification

The process of maintaining current board certification is referred to as “Maintenance of Certification” (MOC). MOC is a continuous process of learning, assessment and testing that occurs throughout a 10 year cycle. There are four components to the MOC process:

1. Evidence of Professional Standing – Dr. Hiranaka has a current, valid medical license in good standing in Hawaii; current hospital cosmetic surgery privileges at Kona Community Hospital and North Hawaii Community Hospital and current Advanced Cardiac Life Support certification
2. Evidence of Lifelong Learning and Assessment – 50 or more hours of continuing medical education per year.
3. Evidence of Cognitive Expertise – Re-certification Examination
4. Evaluation of Performance in Practice – through his ongoing accreditation by the Joint Commission, Dr. Hiranaka’s practice conducts ongoing internal chart reviews and Quality Improvement audits.

Dr. Hiranaka believes that patient safety and quality of service is served best by this continuous process of assessment, learning and re-evaluation.