UH will pitch cancer center to Congress
By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Education Writer
University of Hawai'i president Evan Dobelle said yesterday he would send a detailed plan to Congress by June for a new cancer center that could make the state a magnet for cutting-edge research and treatment.
Speaking at a U.S. Senate field hearing held by Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i, Dobelle said the new center could be a world leader in studying cancer among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and military personnel based in Hawai'i.
"This opportunity can only be found in Hawai'i, because the diversity that exists here cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world," he said.
Inouye, a powerful member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which oversees federal spending, said he would have to see details for the new center by June if he were to ask lawmakers to support federal money for the project next fiscal year.
Dobelle said the new center would cost about $100 million, with an additional $60 million needed to refurbish the medical school on the Manoa campus for biomedical research. The university president has said he will seek federal and private money.
UH used a bond issue to raise $150 million for the new John A. Burns School of Medicine under construction in Kaka'ako.
"I think this is a worthy project — worthy of Hawai'i, worthy of the scientific community," Inouye said.
The hearing, held in the library at Kaimuki High School, was held so Inouye could hear testimony on behalf of the Senate Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on labor, health and human services, and education, on which he serves. The subcommittee is led by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. Inouye invited his colleague Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, to join him yesterday.
The hearing also provided an opportunity for the Hawai'i senators to talk in person with local leaders about statewide issues. Along with Dobelle, Gov. Linda Lingle, state schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto and U.S. Reps. Neil Abercrombie and Ed Case, D-Hawai'i, were among those who testified.
The new cancer center would allow the university's existing Cancer Research Center of Hawai'i to branch out to patient diagnosis, treatment and clinical trials with new drugs, Dobelle said.
Cancer is the top killer of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Dobelle said, and a new center would be uniquely situated to study why certain types of cancer are prevalent in particular groups. Native Hawaiians have higher rates of breast cancer than other ethnic groups, for example, while Filipino women have higher rates of thyroid cancer.
While many in the medical community support an expanded cancer center, some have worried that it would compete with private hospitals for patients.
Gary Okamoto, president and CEO of The Queen's Health Systems, told the U.S. senators that strengthening medical partnerships between the university and community-based healthcare providers would be better than a new, central "brick and mortar" facility.
The Hawai'i senators also heard success stories yesterday about the Hawai'i 3R's program, an Inouye-inspired project that has awarded $2.3 million in grants since 2001 for 72 repair and maintenance projects at public schools. They include Kaimuki, which had its cafeteria, music building, swimming pool, utility room and other buildings painted.
The award money is used to attract volunteers and matching donations, and has seeded more than $5 million worth of repairs.
Congress also has authorized the use of $1 million from the Native Hawaiian Education Act for improvements at schools where 25 percent or more of the students are of Hawaiian ancestry. Hamamoto said more than 120 schools will qualify for the new federal money.
Lingle, Abercrombie and union leaders, meanwhile, talked about the importance of better education and training so workers here can meet the demand for thousands of new jobs anticipated for private and military construction projects. A UH economist has estimated that more than 7,000 new construction workers alone will be needed over the next five years.
"The challenge is a big one," Lingle said. "We are up to it, and the state will be successful."
Abercrombie is seeking $1 million in federal money, and said the Hawai'i Institute for Public Affairs would ask the state Legislature for $212,000, to research the state's work force and what training and housing are necessary for workers to take advantage of the new jobs.
Several union leaders said they already are investing in training programs, although they have no guarantees that local workers will win out over transplants from the Mainland.
"Our members are very concerned that the new construction workers needed to build more than $3 billion in military homes may go to tradespeople from out of state," said Lynn Kinney, business manager and secretary treasurer of District Council 50 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.
Inouye said he would try to make sure the jobs stay at home. "We didn't exert ourselves in Congress to get projects that others take over," he said.
Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
