UH wins grant for Hawaiian health

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

A $4.5 million federal grant has come through to endow a position at the University of Hawai'i John A. Burns School of Medicine that will direct research into the health problems faced by Native Hawaiians.

The grant from the National Institutes of Health will be released in three $1.5 million annual installments as the endowment for a new Chair for Native Hawaiian Health at the medical school's Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence.

UH was alerted last spring to a competitive grant that was available for minority health research projects, said Benjamin Young, Center of Excellence director. The center submitted its proposal after deciding that an endowment would be the best way to enhance Native Hawaiian health research, Young said.

Young said the interest generated from the endowment should produce about $50,000 annually, which will be compounded by a matching state grant. Young declined to estimate the salary that will be offered but said a sizeable amount will have to come from the medical school the first year and then by additional grants the director will secure.

Young hopes to have the position filled in a year. He said the search for applicants will begin now.

Many research topics also have come to mind, he said, ranging from the prevalence of heart disease among Hawaiians to domestic violence and other behavioral and mental health problems.

"Hawaiians die at a younger age than many other groups, and more Hawaiians die of cancer than any other ethnic group," Young said.

"For cardiovascular disease, strokes, many problems, Hawaiians are at the top of the list," he said.

The Center of Excellence, one of 27 similar centers nationwide, was established in 1991 to improve the health of indigenous Hawaiians through research, education, service and training of Native Hawaiians in medicine.

Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com, or 525-8053.