UH to create cardiovascular research center

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

The University of Hawai'i has received a $9.3 million federal grant to create a cardiovascular research center — the first of its kind at UH and what officials there hope could kickstart a new emphasis in biomedical research.

Charles Boyd of the Pacific Biomedical Research Center, who will head up the new cardiovascular center, tells how the University of Hawai'i successfully applied for the $9.3 million federal grant from the National Institutes of Health. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

The five faculty members most closely aligned with this new center could generate an additional $17.5 million in federal grant awards over the next five years, said Charles Boyd, director of the Laboratory of Matrix Pathobiology at the Pacific Biomedical Research Center and the leader of the new cardiovascular center.

The additional $17.5 million, in turn, could be used to hire more staff and pay for more research projects. And when the initial five researchers get to the point that they are self-sufficient in receiving money from other NIH grants, newer, younger faculty could be brought in.

Boyd said that means the Center for Biomedical Research Excellence has potential as a recruiting tool for new faculty and as an economic engine.

Katalin Csiszar, a researcher at PBRC, said mentors will supervise research projects and help young faculty navigate the partnerships with various UH departments. "Once we are established, people will want to come," Csiszar said. "The distance and the cost of living won't matter because the science is good."

The National Institutes of Health is a federally financed program that has granted relatively few awards to UH researchers. The state has such a poor history in receiving health-related federal money that the NIH has designated Hawai'i as a historically underfinanced state that should receive priority.

Few grants came in because the medical school previously focused almost exclusively on teaching and has left research to the Cancer Center and PBRC. In 1999, the school received just $1.5 million for research. Administrators have been shifting the focus to research, though. This year, the faculty applied for $47 million in grants.

The grant comes at a time when financing from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation is on the increase. Those agencies have been targeted by Congress over the past few years for large-scale budget growth. And one area of particular interest to the federal government — minority health — seems tailor-made for Hawai'i, a state with a diverse population.

This would be the first center for cardiovascular research at UH, said Boyd.

"This is a particular problem to Hawai'i and it has been an underfunded problem," Boyd said. Native Hawaiians suffer from heart disease at a rate 44 percent higher than the general population and are twice as likely as whites to get diabetes, he said.

The center will take faculty members from across UH research units, including the PBRC, the John A. Burns School of Medicine, the Cancer Research Center and the College of Natural Sciences.

Those partnerships were the key to securing the grant, said Chuck Hayes, dean of the College of Natural Sciences. The group applied for the grant a year ago, but spent almost a year putting the grant application together and coming up with the partnerships between departments. Hayes said federal agencies in the past 10 years have been more likely to award grants to scientists who show they will use a multi-disciplinary approach.

It shows the university is taking advantage of all of its resources when tackling a research problem, Hayes said.

UH has done well in bringing in other types of research money. Among national research universities, UH ranks 54th for federal grant dollars received in 1998. But most of that federal money has come from the National Science Foundation — not the NIH.

Traditionally the biggest grant winners at UH are those who get money from the National Science Foundation, NASA and Department of Defense: the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), which received $35.7 million in grants last year and $7.31 million in nonresearch awards; the College of Natural Sciences, with about $14 million in research grants and awards; and the Institute for Astronomy, with $11 million in grants and awards, according to the Office of Research Services.

UH officials also say the cardiovascular center could be built in Kaka'ako if the facility there is approved. The university is asking the Legislature for $150 million to build a new medical school and biotechnology park in Kaka'ako. The medical school has been in its Manoa building since the 1970s, and school officials say they need a more modern space for research.

UH would have to match the state with $150 million in privately raised money. Proving that UH can bring in large federal grants like the $9.3 million award is part of what is needed to convince state legislators and private donors that the new location is needed, officials said.

The two largest landowners in the Kaka'ako area, Kamehameha Schools and Victoria Ward Ltd., also have announced they will jointly hire an urban designer to create a plan for 100 acres there.

Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.