Cancer Center event awards top community partners 

Top clinical trial accrual awardees.

Jessica Rhee

The University of Hawai‘i Cancer Center recognized its community partners at the 2nd Annual Cancer Clinical Research UHCC Accrual Leaders event. Physicians, nurses and research administrators throughout Hawai‘i were awarded for their efforts toward clinical research.

The UH Cancer Center coordinates clinical trials through the Hawai‘i Cancer Consortium with oversight of trials at The Queen’s Health Systems, Hawaiʻi Pacific Health hospitals, Kuakini Health System and numerous private practitioners statewide.

“We are unique among National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers in that we are completely community facing. We rely on our community partners to offer the best treatments possible through clinical trials,” said Jessica Rhee, medical director of the UH Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office. “We are very grateful for all the efforts of community physicians because we wouldn’t be able to do this without them.”

Awardees were recognized for reviewing the validity and feasibility of clinical trial protocols, monitoring data safety, facilitating clinical trials and for successfully enrolling patients onto interventional clinical trials. Their efforts contribute to the UH Cancer Center’s 20BY25 campaign goal of increasing clinical trial enrollment to 20 percent of all individuals with newly diagnosed and relapsed cancers in Hawai‘i each year by 2025.

“The patients that we see in Hawai‘i have been underrepresented in clinical trials and we really don’t know much about the overall risk and risk profiles of our patients,” said Erin Capps, The Queen’s Medical Center radiologist and winner of a Platinum Accrual Award. “Bringing these trials to the patients of Hawai‘i is so important so that we can better understand the disease within these patients, and how to better treat them in the future and develop treatments that are tailored to them.”
 

Clinical Trial Accrual Awards (awards based on number of patients enrolled onto trials by type of trial)

• Interventional therapeutic trials

  • Platinum:

    • Jonathan Cho, MD (Hawaiʻi Cancer Care)

    • Ken Sumida, MD (Hawaiʻi Oncology, Inc)

    • David Tamura, MD (Hawaiʻi Cancer Care)

  • Gold:

    • Kaye Kawahara, MD (Hawaiʻi Oncology, Inc)

    • Wade Kyono, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health - Pediatric)

    • Randal Liu, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

    • Ian Okazaki, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

    • Ron Yanagihara, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

  • Silver:

    • Clayton Chong, MD, MPH (Hawaiʻi Oncology, Inc)

    • Darryl Glaser, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health – Pediatric)

    • Melvin Paul Palalay, MD (Hawaiʻi Cancer Care)

• Interventional non-therapeutic trials

  • Platinum:

    • Erin Capps, MD (The Queen’s Medical Center)

    • Wade Kyono, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health - Pediatric)

    • Laura Peterson, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

  • Gold:

    • Jonathan Cho, MD (Hawaiʻi Cancer Care)

    • Tamie Kerns, DO (Tripler Army Medical Center)

    • Ken Sumida, MD (Hawaiʻi Oncology, Inc)

  • Silver:

    • C. Galen Choy, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

    • Darryl Glaser, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health – Pediatric)

    • Kelley Hutchins, DO (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health – Pediatric)

    • Gary Peers, MD (Aloha Urology)

    • Ashley Springer, APRN (Hawaiʻi Cancer Care)

Community Research Advisory Board (CRAB)

• Participants provide direction on the selection of the research studies that are made available to community practices through the UH Cancer Center

• Attendees of this monthly meeting include physicians, nurses, research staff, and administrators from the UH Cancer Center community sites

• CRAB Chair: Jared Acoba, MD (Hawaiʻi Oncology, Inc)

• Best attendance awards:

  • Anthony Froix, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

  • Tim Kelleher, RN (The Queen’s Medical Center)

  • Ian Okazaki, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

• Participation awards:

  • Samir Ambrale, MD (FHP Medical Center, Guam)

  • Annette Amiotte, RN (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

  • Craig Boddy, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

  • Brithney Dela Cruz (Hawaiʻi Cancer Care)

  • David Horio, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

  • Mandy Joosten (Hawaiʻi Cancer Care)

  • Tamie Kerns, DO (Tripler Army Medical Center)

  • Charles Kim, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

  • Wade Kyono, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health - Pediatric)

  • Franklin Lee, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

  • Richard Lee, MD, PhD (Cancer Center of Hawaiʻi)

  • Shane Morita, MD (The Queen’s Medical Center)

  • Angelei Pananganan (Hawaiʻi Cancer Care)

  • Michael Roach, MD (Cancer Center of Hawaiʻi)

  • David Saito, MD (Cancer Center of Hawaiʻi)

  • Christina Speirs, MD, PhD (Cancer Center of Hawaiʻi)

  • Ken Sumida, MD (Hawaiʻi Oncology, Inc)

  • Christopher Tokin, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

  • Elizabeth Wright, DNP, RN, OCN (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

Protocol Review and Monitoring Committee (PRMC)

• Scientific review committee for all protocols to assess their scientific merit, statistical validity and scientific progress

• The monthly meetings also prioritize protocols relative to the mission of UH Cancer Center

• PRMC Chair: Jeffrey Berenberg, MD (Tripler Army Medical Center)

• Members:

  • Anthony Froix, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

  • David Horio, MD (University of Hawaiʻi)

  • Gene Liu, MD (The Queen’s Medical Center)

  • Noboyuki Miki, MD (Kuakini Medical Center)

  • Paul Morris, MD (The Queen’s Medical Center)

Protocol Reviewers

• All protocols requiring scientific review are evaluated by physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and research staff

• Reviewers provide formal written evaluations of each protocol

• Review includes assessment of scientific rationale, impact on improving cancer care, study design, feasibility in our community

• Top Protocol Reviewers:

  • Ian Okazaki, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

  • Craig Boddy, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

  • Jonathan Cho, MD (Hawaiʻi Cancer Care)

  • Ken Sumida, MD (Hawaiʻi Oncology, Inc)

  • Gene Liu, MD (The Queen’s Medical Center)

  • Keith Terada, MD (The Queen’s Medical Center)

  • Lara Au, Pharm D (Tripler Army Medical Center)

  • David Tamura, MD (Hawaiʻi Cancer Care)

  • Richard Lee, MD, PhD (Cancer Center of Hawaiʻi)

  • Charles Kim, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

  • Kaye Kawahara, MD (Hawaiʻi Oncology, Inc)

Data Safety Monitoring Committee (DSMC)

• Jonathan Cho, MD (Hawaiʻi Cancer Care)

• David Horio, MD (University of Hawaiʻi)

• Judy Ko, APRN (Hawaiʻi Cancer Care)

• Ian Okazaki, MD (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health)

• Christina Speirs, MD, PhD (Cancer Center of Hawaiʻi)

• Ken Sumida, MD (Hawaiʻi Oncology, Inc)

Clinical Trials Facilitation Awards

• Each hospital and private office nominated a staff member who facilitated clinical research and contributed significantly to care of patients on clinical trials

  • Ruben Parado, CMD (Cancer Center of Hawaiʻi)

  • Ashley Springer, APRN (Hawaiʻi Cancer Care)

  • Chantel Lee, MA (Hawaiʻi Oncology, Inc)

  • Lisa Harada, APRN (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health – Pediatric)

  • Lisa Fuchigami, RN (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health – Kapiʻolani)

  • Christi Holeso, RN (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health – Pali Momi)

  • Shawn Iwata, RN (Hawaiʻi Pacific Health – Straub)

  • Rebecca Ohta, RN (The Queen’s Medical Center)

  • Barbara Andrews, CCRP (Tripler Army Medical Center)

About the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center
The University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center through its various activities, including scientific research and clinical trials, adds more than $54 million to the Oʻahu economy.  It is one of only 71 research institutions designated by the National Cancer Institute. Affiliated with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, the Center is dedicated to eliminating cancer through research, education, patient care and community outreach with an emphasis on the unique ethnic, cultural, and environmental characteristics of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific.  Learn more at www.uhcancercenter.org.  Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UHCancerCenter.  Follow us on Twitter @UHCancerCenter.

For more information, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6jsdOFUf9c&feature=emb_logo