Hawai'i could become a gateway for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's response to health threats in the Pacific and Asia under an innovative partnership being considered by the CDC and the University of Hawai'i's John A. Burns School of Medicine.

The CDC could open a two-person office here by the end of summer if talks between it and the school produce a solid business plan for the partnership. The venture could be expanded in the future with training personnel and more technical people being located here.

"There's a real opportunity, and I think the opportunity can become a reality," said Michael Sage, CDC portfolio management project director. Sage has been in Honolulu to work with the school on a business plan to be presented to Dr. Julie Gerberding, head of the Atlanta-based CDC.

The CDC is interested in Hawai'i for several reasons, including its proximity to Pacific and Asian nations, and because the medical school's Asia-Pacific Institute of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases has a National Institutes of Health grant to build a secure laboratory, known as a bio-level safety 3 laboratory, Sage said.

By partnering with the school, the CDC could avoid having to build its own lab here. The Asia-Pacific Institute also has some of the same goals as the CDC.

The Asia-Pacific Institute's director, Duane Gubler, was director of the CDC's Fort Collins, Colo.-based infectious disease laboratory before joining Hawai'i's medical school three years ago. Gubler has relationships with many public-health officials in other countries and is considered a national authority on infectious disease.

HAWAI'I LAB 'ESSENTIAL'

Gubler, along with Leon Rosen of the National Institutes of Health, perfected a technique for dengue detection in the early 1970s that has been used for decades.

Gubler has argued having a high-caliber lab in Hawai'i is essential because of the potential for infectious diseases to be introduced here with Hawai'i's tourist industry. Two years ago, he proposed the partnership to Gerberding when she visited Hawai'i.

"They know the Asia-Pacific region is critical to the health of the planet," Gubler said yesterday. Outbreaks in recent years for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, and bird flu occurred in Asia.

Gubler said he wants to give office space within the school to CDC personnel and reserve an area in the infectious disease laboratory for the agency. In doing so, the CDC could help with resources to make it a world-class lab, something that's crucial in early diagnosis of health threats, Gubler said.

"I see it ultimately as being tremendously beneficial to Hawai'i," he said. "It's going to bring CDC credibility to the program."

SERVE AS MODEL

The CDC and school have talked about ways the partnership could function and officials are here this week to work on a plan. Sage said the CDC has never had a similar partnership with a university and it could serve as a model for others if successful.

CDC's Sage said the plan, if approved by Gerberding, could bring a senior CDC manager and senior medical epidemiologist to Honolulu by the end of summer. Steps beyond that will depend on how well the partnership functions, but could involve moving more personnel to Hawai'i, such as trainers who visit public-health officials in Asia.

CDC'S GOALS

Sage said the partnership would be in keeping with the CDC's goals of rapidly detecting and responding quickly to emerging threats.

The agency also wants to work more closely with state and other countries' public health officers on planning and systems to respond to emergencies. A third reason is working with the governments on CDC grants and building closer working relationships with them, Sage said.

"That's hard to do from Atlanta," he said. Sage said CDC representatives here could provide a front-line for the agency and travel to areas in the Asia and Pacific more quickly than those coming from the headquarters.

Reach Greg Wiles at gwiles@honoluluadvertiser.com.