Local businesswoman Judith Dion Pyle has pledged $1 million to support the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Program at the University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine.

A news release from the University of Hawaii Foundation said Friday the gift will create the Judith Dion Pyle Endowed Fund for the Robert Hong, M.D., Professorship in the Cardiovascular Fellowship Program, a three-year program that trains physicians to become cardiologists. 

The fellowship program began in 2010 as a partnership between the UH medical school and the Queen’s Medical Center. It recently received a five-year accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

Among those in training is Dr. Kahea­lani Rivera, who next year will become the first female Native Hawaiian cardiologist. 

“Native Hawaiians are two to three times more likely to be diagnosed with or die from heart disease,” Rivera said in a news release. “We have so much more work to do, and I hope, as a Native Hawaiian physician, I will be able to give care to both Native Hawaiians and all people who suffer so much from heart disease.”