About Hawaii Island Stem Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine
Founded by Dr. Christopher Lawinski, MD
Pahoa, Kailua-Kona, and Maui
Hawaii Island Stem Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine is a regenerative medicine practice on the Big Island of Hawaii, founded and led by Dr. Christopher Lawinski, MD, a board-certified integrative and holistic physician.
We specialize in innovating Regenerative medicine treatments, offer ultrasound-guided Regenerative Medicine injections for joint, tendon, ligament, and nerve-related concerns, and we have been doing this work on the island since 2015. Our primary clinic is in Pahoa, at the Vitality Integrative Medicine Clinic, and we see patients at satellite clinics in downtown Kailua-Kona and on Maui.
Where This Practice Came From
“I spent the first years of my career training as a conventional a family physician, learning the foundations of modern medicine, which meant that as far as orthopedic care was concerned, I could offer various forms of pain management or could refer patients to rehabilitation or to surgery. However, searching for and reversing the ROOT CAUSE of disease has always been my passion. Reversing degenerative disease from the root cause is what this practice is built on. I am committed to providing state of the art world class care from my local facilities in in Kailua-Kona and on Maui as well as Pahoa.
-Dr Christopher Lawinski
About Dr. Christopher Lawinski, MD
Dr. Lawinski personally performs the regenerative procedures offered here — every ultrasound-guided injection, and every consultation about whether someone is a candidate for one.
He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Oberlin College and worked as a research assistant at Rockefeller University in New York before earning his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 2006. He completed his Family Medicine residency at the University of Hawaii on Oahu in 2009 and opened his private practice on Hawaii Island the following year.
What came out of that path was not a rejection of conventional medicine but a working sense of where it runs out of options — and a stated intention to expand medical thinking beyond the conventional model.
His first orthobiologic procedure was in 2015. It combined concentrated platelets with cellular material harvested from the patient’s own fat and bone marrow, and it set the template for his orthobiologic practice ever since: use the body’s own repair machinery, and put it precisely where the repair has stalled.
An orthobiologic, in his own definition, is a “material that has a biologic activity that stimulates the body’s healing response in a diseased orthopedic tissue”. “That is the whole holistic premise, we are working with the body to stimulate regeneration and repair through a biologic signal, not simply just using drugs to overrides a process or mask a signal.”
He trained in the traditional Prolotherapy and Prolozone technique with Dr. Frank Shallenberger in 2013, and took up ultrasound guidance roughly six years ago. That second change altered the work more than any other. On screen, the needle tip is simply visible — there is no judging its position by feel and surface landmarks, and no wondering afterward whether the material arrived where it was meant to.
Beyond this practice, Dr. Lawinski serves as medical director for a network of Big Island healthcare organizations, including the Hawaii Whole Person Healing Collective and the Vitality Integrative Medicine Clinic, where our Pahoa office is located.
Education and Training
- MD, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 2006
- Family Medicine Residency, University of Hawaii, 2009
- Oberlin College — Phi Beta Kappa
- Research Assistant, Rockefeller University, New York
- Prolozone technique training with Dr. Frank Shallenberger, 2013
Board Certification
- American Board of Integrative and Holistic Medicine
Professional Memberships
- American College for the Advancement in Medicine (ACAM)
- American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M)
- American Academy of Ozonotherapy
- Interventional Orthobiologics Foundation
Wondering whether any of this applies to you?
Send your MRI, X-ray, or radiology report. Dr. Lawinski reads it himself, there is
no charge, and he will tell you plainly if the answer is no.
Beyond Regenerative Injection
Injection work is not the whole of what happens here.
The practice was built in 2010 around functional, integrative, and holistic medicine, with early emphasis on intravenous nutrients, chelation, detoxification, anti-aging medicine, and bioidentical hormones. That work continues alongside the regenerative side, and the two inform each other. A joint does not go bad in isolation from the metabolic, nutritional, and inflammatory environment around it.
We are also part of the Hawaii Whole Person Healing Collective. In practice this means the conversation tends to run wider than the complaint that brought you in.
What Being a Patient Here Is Like
Care begins with a consultation, not a procedure.
The first appointment exists to work out whether this applies to you. We go through your history, look at prior imaging and records, examine the structures involved, and talk frankly about what this approach can and cannot address in your situation.
That evaluation costs $150, takes up to 45 minutes, and you leave with a written plan and a cost estimate. If you decide to proceed, the $150 comes off the price of your first treatment.
Treatment itself is booked separately. These are outpatient procedures and you will not need anyone to collect you afterward. What follows is slower than most people expect: the aim is to restart your body’s own repair process, not to switch off a symptom, so the useful question is how things feel in a few months rather than a few days. Individual results vary, and no outcome can be guaranteed.
Where to Find Us
PRIMARY CLINIC
Pahoa
At the Vitality Integrative Medicine Clinic, 15-3039 Pahoa Village Road, Pahoa, HI 96778. About forty-five minutes southeast of Hilo Airport.
SATELLITE CLINIC
Kailua-Kona
Downtown Kailua-Kona.
SATELLITE CLINIC
Maui
Maui location.
Nothing on this page should be construed as a claim of medical effectiveness for any indication. This information is provided for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Individual results vary based on each patient’s condition and health history, and no specific outcome is guaranteed. Please consult with Dr. Lawinski or another qualified physician to discuss whether this therapy is appropriate for you. Some therapies discussed on this website are investigational or have not been approved by the FDA for the uses discussed. Availability of an investigational product, where applicable, is governed by the relevant research and FDA regulatory requirements. No treatment discussed here is represented as proven safe or effective.