Faculty

Gertraud Maskarinec  , MD PhD
Professor, Cancer Epidemiology Program and Program Director, Post-Doctoral Training ProgramUniversity of Hawai‘i Cancer Center – University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

Home Phone: 808.586.3078home

Research Interests

Preventive medicine and nutritional epidemiology, etiology of breast cancer, Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL), and type 2 diabetes.

Recent Grants

• G. Maskarinec, Program Director; J. Hedges, (PI: J. Hedges), P30 CA071789-14S1, University of Hawaii Cancer Center CCSG CURE Supplement. 07/2013 - 06/2017.
• G. Maskarinec, Co-Investigator, (PIs: L. Le Marchand/U. Lim), P01 CA168530, "Obesity, Body Fat Distribution, and Cancer Risk in the Multiethnic Cohort" 09/01/12 - 08/31/17.
• G. Maskarinec, Multiple PI of Education Core, U54 CA143727, "University of Guam/University of Hawaii Cancer Center Partnership Education Core" 09/01/15 – 08/31/20.

John A Shepherd  , PhD
Researcher R5Population Sciences in the Pacific Program (Cancer Epidemiology), University of Hawai‘i Cancer Center

Work Email: johnshep@hawaii.eduINTERNET

Research Interests

Dr. John Shepherd’s research integrates medical imaging, deep learning, and public health, with an emphasis on breast cancer, obesity, diabetes, and osteoporosis. As Chief Scientific Officer at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center, he leads NIH-funded projects, including the Hawaii Pacific Islands Mammography Registry, which explores imaging biomarkers across diverse ethnic groups. Dr. Shepherd's extensive work in deep learning has advanced the application of AI to improve cancer detection and body composition analysis. His lab focuses on reducing health disparities using cutting-edge imaging and machine learning techniques, offering rich opportunities for prospective PhD students.

Recent Grants

• R01HD103885 Shepherd (PI) 8/9/21-5/31/26 NIH/NICHD Quantifying Body Shape in Pediatric Clinical Research The long-term goal of the Shape Up! Keiki is 1) to provide pediatric phenotype descriptors of health derived from detailed body shape scans from high-speed and high depth resolution 3D cameras, and 2) to provide the tools to visualize and quantify body shape in research and clinical practice.
• R01CA257652 Shepherd (PI) 8/9/21- 7/31/26 NIH/NCI Lesion Composition and Quantitative Imaging Analysis on Breast Cancer Diagnosis The aims of this project are 1) develop q3CB lesion signatures for distinguishing breast cancer lesions from benign lesion, 2) compare radiologists' performance without and with the inclusion of q3CB signature, and 3) investigate the utility of q3CB lesion signatures to improve sensitivity and specificity on CADe-identified suspicious lesions in the tasks of assessing malignancy and associating cancer subtypes.
• R01CA263491 Shepherd (PI) 4/1/23-3/31/28 NIH/NCI Hawaii Pacific Islands Mammography Registry (HIPIMR) Despite recent advances in early detection and treatment, breast cancer remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality. The HIPIMR will be the source to identify and validate novel image biomarkers for the diverse ethnic groups of this region with varying risk factor profiles including Native Hawaiians, Japanese, Filipino, Chinese, and other ethnic groups. This study addresses the need for accurate identification of defined clinical and radiomic risk factors among AANHPI populations and their relation to breast cancer risk to improve outcomes for these women.
• R01DK111698 Shepherd (PI) 10/01/16- 12/31/22 NIH/NIDDK Shape Up! Kids The long-term goal of the Shape Up! Kids Study is 1) to provide pediatric phenotype descriptors of health using body shape, and 2) to provide the tools to visualize and quantify body shape in research, clinical practice, and personal health assessment.
• R01DK109008 Shepherd (PI) 05/15/16-04/30/21 NIH/NIDDK Optical Body Composition and Health Assessment The long-term goal of the Optical Body Shape and Health Assessment Study is 1) to provide phenotype descriptors of health using body shape, and 2) to provide the tools to visualize and quantify body shape in research, clinical practice, and personal health assessment.

Current Graduate Students

• Lydia Sollis, PhD in Computer Science at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa 2024 – Present
• Nusrat Zaman Zemi, MSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa 2023 – Present
• Arianna Bunnell, PhD in Computer Science at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa 2022 – Present
• Dustin Valdez, PhD in Nutrition Science at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (Chair) Thesis: Evaluating Portable Breast Cancer Screening Technology for Women in the Pacific 2019 – Present

Lynne Wilkens  , DrPH, MS
Co-Director, Biostat and Informatics Shared ResourceUniversity of Hawai‘i Cancer Center- University of Hawaii at Manoa

Work Email: lynne@cc.hawaii.eduINTERNET

Research Interests

Methodological research that extends statistical techniques of relevance to our research, techniques for studying disease associations when the independent variables are measured with error and ethical/racial classification.