Sheldon Riklon, MD
Professsor, University of Arkansas Medical Sciences
Sheldon Riklon, MD, is a Marshallese family physician, born and raised in the Marshall Islands. After high school graduation, he moved to the State of Hawaii where he received his B.A. degree in Biology from the University of Hawaii at Hilo in 1989. He completed the Imi Ho’ola Post Graduate Program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and matriculated through the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) where he received his MD in 1998. Upon completion of his family medicine residency training in 2001, he returned home to the Marshall Islands where, among other duties, he served as a primary care physician at Majuro Hospital, chaired the RMI Medical Referral Committee, chaired Majuro Hospital’s Pharmacy and Therapeutics committee, and directed the Special Medical Care Program that provided healthcare to the radiation affected population in the Marshall Islands. In 2009, he returned to Hawaii and was a faculty member with University of Hawaii’s JABSOM’s Department of Family Medicine and Community Health and served as the Family Medicine Clerkship Director. Dr. Riklon has been actively involved among the Marshallese and the other Micronesian populations in Hawaii as one of the founding members and recent past-chair of the Micronesian Health Advisory Coalition. He is an active member of the Compact of Free Association – Community Leadership and Advocacy Network (COFA-CLAN).
Dr. Riklon is currently a Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and a co-investigator in the Office of Community Health and Research at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ Northwest Campus. He is the inaugural recipient of the Peter O. Kohler, M.D., Endowed Chair in Health Disparities at UAMS-NW Campus. He serves as a primary care physician at Community Clinic in Springdale that serves a large patient population of Marshallese and underserved populations in NW Arkansas.
Dr. Riklon’s research surrounds culturally competent health research, health care services, and palliative care for indigenous Pacific Islanders. Dr. Riklon has also worked toward creating health equity for Pacific Islanders living in the US. Ongoing research with UAMS will include increasing patient centered research with underrepresented Pacific Islander populations, a family model of diabetes self- management education to reduce disparities, and increasing the access the Marshallese community have to healthy food options and culturally competent health care services.
In his free time, he enjoys listening to Marshallese & other island music, working outside, and spending time with his wife Lynda, children and grandchildren.