A new breast cancer institute has opened inside Kuakini Medical Plaza in Honolulu, bringing screening, surgery and ongoing monitoring together under one surgical oncologist as doctors at the Liliha hospital report seeing more breast cancer diagnoses come through their doors.
A One-Stop Approach to Breast Cancer Care
The Kuakini Breast Health Institute opened offering what Kuakini describes as specialized cancer treatment, including screening, surgery and monitoring, according to Hawaii News Now. The new institute sits inside the Kuakini Medical Plaza and is led by surgical oncologist Dr. Ashley Marumoto, the station reports. Jason Fleming, Kuakini's vice president of medical services and chief medical officer, said the goal was to close gaps in access to specialists and procedures that patients in Hawaiʻi have long faced.
“We've decided to launch this program, partner with the best breast surgeon we can find and bring that care to Hawaii's people,” Fleming said, per the station's report. He framed the timing around a broader concern: doctors at the Liliha hospital have noted an increase in breast cancer diagnoses, the outlet notes, though the report does not specify the scale or timeframe behind that trend.
Why Speed Matters, According to Kuakini's Chief Medical Officer
Fleming tied the institute's mission directly to timing. “The faster you can see your specialist, the faster you can have your diagnostic procedures, your curative procedures, the better the outcomes,” he said, according to the same report. Dr. Marumoto, for her part, said she is excited to offer patients a place where they can feel cared for, and noted that patients sometimes come from all over the Pacific, the station's report states.
That reach matters in a state where screening access varies sharply by geography. Honolulu County posts the state's highest breast cancer screening rate at 82.1%, while Hawaiʻi County trails at 69.5%, according to the Hawaiʻi Health Data Warehouse. Statewide, 78.9% of women ages 40 to 74 had a mammogram within the past two years, per the same fact sheet.
Broader Cancer Trends Across Hawaiʻi
The new institute arrives against a backdrop of rising cancer burden statewide. As of 2024, 9.9% of adults in Hawaiʻi, or 112,500 people, had been diagnosed with some form of cancer, the Hawaiʻi Health Data Warehouse reports. National research adds further context specific to breast cancer: a study from the American Cancer Society, which examined population-based cancer registry data collected through the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program from 2000 through 2022, found that Native Hawaiian women had breast cancer incidence rates 27% higher than White women — the highest among all Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander ethnic groups studied in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society.
Female breast cancer incidence is climbing in nearly all of those ethnic groups, rising by about 1% per year among Native Hawaiian and Filipino women specifically, the American Cancer Society reports. Researchers behind the study said disaggregated data are essential for identifying where cancer risk differs and for targeting prevention efforts accordingly, a point the organization emphasized in its findings.
Other Breast Health Options Around the State
Kuakini is not the only health system offering breast cancer services in Hawaiʻi. Hawaiʻi Pacific Health runs Women's Centers and clinics across the islands that provide digital mammography, along with a High-Risk Breast Program offering intensive monitoring for patients at elevated risk, according to Hawaiʻi Pacific Health. Its Kapiʻolani Women's Center is described as the state's first comprehensive program dedicated to breast cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment, while its Pali Momi Women's Center offers mammograms, ultrasound, breast MRI and genetic counseling for higher-risk patients.
The Queen's Medical Center, meanwhile, estimates that more than 1,100 women in Hawaiʻi will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, according to Queen's. The system offers digital mammography in both 2D and 3D, diagnostic breast ultrasound, and image-guided biopsies at its Women's Health Center and Physicians Office Building 3 in Honolulu, as well as at Queen's Medical Center–West Oahu in Ewa Beach. At Queen's North Hawaiʻi Community Hospital, a breast-imaging-accredited program offers digital mammography and stereotactic biopsy procedures, and supports on-island referrals and consultations with women's health specialists when patients need further follow-up, per Queen's.
Together, the new Kuakini institute and these existing programs reflect a statewide push to get more women screened and treated closer to home, even as diagnosis rates and the disparities behind them continue to draw scrutiny from researchers and providers alike.
