The National Cancer Institute awarded a six-year, $8 million grant to the University of Hawaii Cancer Center to increase cancer clinical trials among minority and rural patients in Hawaii, the university announced Friday.
“By providing these cancer clinical trials and cancer patient care for both adults and children, The UH Cancer Center gives Hawaii residents the opportunity for the most effective treatments without having to leave the Islands,” said Jeffrey Berenberg, a UH Cancer Center professor and principal investigator for the NCI Community Oncology Research Program, in a statement.
The UH Cancer Center is one of 14 designated NCORP Minority/Underserved Community Sites, where racial/ethnic minorities make up at least 30% of its patient population, and designs and conducts cancer prevention, control, and screening/post treatment surveillance clinical trials, as well as multi-level cancer care research.
“An NCORP Minority/Underserved Community Site designation helps the UH Cancer Center increase cancer clinical trial accruals of underrepresented populations in Hawaii,” said Jared Acoba, an NCORP study principal investigator, in a statement. “Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders and Asians represent a small fraction of patients enrolled in cancer clinical trials nationwide. It is critical to enhance access to the highest level of quality cancer care to these patients.”
The UH Cancer Center coordinates more than 100 clinical trials open to both children and adults. Members of the UH Cancer Center clinical trials network include Hawaii Pacific Health, The Queen's Health System, Kuakini Medical Center, Tripler Army Medical Center, and private practice oncology physician offices.
For more information about The UH Cancer Center, click here.