Each year, in collaboration with the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), the Geiger Gibson Program recognizes and celebrates young leaders whose work and dedication have helped further the health center mission of health care and better health for medically underserved people, communities, and special populations.
Candidates for the awards are nominated by their organization’s leadership, and awardees are selected by a committee drawn from the Geiger Gibson Distinguished Visitors program.
Landen Muāsau was recognized as one of twelve Emerging Leaders in 2025.
Landen Muāsau’s role as the Director of Provider Relations at Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center (WCCHC) stretches beyond recruitment and retention of providers. Some days he finds himself distributing food in the community, others helping elders pick native plants in WCCHC’s garden. As a young leader in the community health center movement, every task is part of a larger calling: service anywhere, at any time.
That spirit—service first, titles second—is what he sees as the defining thread of his work and the culture at WCCHC. “Our first role [is] to serve the patients,” he said. “Our titles are secondary to that.”
At WCCHC, founded in 1972 and now the largest community health center on the island of Oahu, serving the community means embracing a model that is both innovative and deeply rooted in tradition. WCCHC offers patients not only Western medical care but also access to its Native Hawaiian Healing Center. There, patients may receive Lomilomi (traditional massage), Lāʻau Lapaʻau (herbal medicine), Lāʻau Kāhea (spiritual healing) or Ho‘oponopono (a practice of reconciliation and conflict resolution). These services, reflect the Hawaiian value of mālama—to care—without expectation of return.
The integration of Western and traditional healing is more than symbolic. Providers collaborate, share records, and refer patients across both programs. What matters most is respect for patient choice. Patient’s may encounter the health center for the first time through either door. “If it works for the patient, go ahead and keep doing it,” Muāsau explained. “It allows us to think of healthcare as holistic healing—mind, body, and soul.”
That model reflects WCCHC’s long history of engaging with and listening to the community. New programs are introduced only after seeking guidance from its Board of Directors and the Kupuna Council of Native Hawaiian elders for the traditional healing program. The bottom line, says Muasau, is to make sure these services meet the needs of the community. That’s why leadership seeks guidance, evaluates and adapts service offering, and invests in programs that resonate.
Sustaining innovative models is not without challenges. Funding streams are uncertain, disagreement is inevitable, and staffing shortages are persistent, especially in a high-cost state like Hawai‘i. Muāsau shares that he has found purpose and fulfillment in his work at the community health center that drives him forward. As a young leader, he is an exemplar of how the mission of the community health center movement is sustained through interested and dedicated young people. “If your health center does not have young leaders, the movement will die,” he said. “We need young people to come in and carry the legacy forward.” He suggests that young people who seek a fulfilling career, “give health centers a try.”
Muāsau himself is living that legacy, applying to medical school while working to expand opportunities for providers and students. He sees his generation’s role as bridging the old and the new, carrying forward lessons from CHC founders while adapting to today’s realities.
Landen shares a hope for the future of WCCHC, which has been rooted in decades of community-centered success and service, and or the broader health center movement. “Community health centers are truly the heartbeat of communities. If we keep reminding people that the community needs strong people to stand by them, I think we will last for another 50 years.”
This story was published in 2025.
