The University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center has received a $2.5 million grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to expand cancer care, clinical research and specialist training across the islands. The funding will deepen Ka ʻUmeke Lama, an initiative launched in 2024 by the UH Cancer Center and the John A. Burns School of Medicine that aims to reduce geographic barriers to cancer treatment, particularly for neighbor island and rural residents.
The grant was announced Thursday by University of Hawaiʻi System News, which described the initiative as a response to persistent gaps in access across the state. Ka ʻUmeke Lama partners with the John A. Burns School of Medicine and, according to the John A. Burns School of Medicine, is built around a medical oncology fellowship, statewide oncology curricula, cultural-competence training, rural cancer-detection units and telehealth systems aimed at avoiding professional isolation among healthcare providers.
Among the initiative's centerpiece commitments is the establishment of Hawaiʻi's first medical oncology fellowship, which will allow physicians to pursue specialized training without leaving the state. The same JABSOM announcement notes the program will also expand multidisciplinary tumor registries to inform cancer care and will support genomic research focused on Hawaiʻi's diverse populations, alongside efforts to strengthen precision oncology infrastructure statewide.
Why the Islands Need It
The case for the investment is stark in dollar terms. An average of more than 7,000 Hawaiʻi residents are diagnosed with invasive cancer each year, leading to more than 2,000 deaths annually, the medical school's announcement states. And the cost of leaving the state for treatment has been substantial: a separate UH Cancer Center study found that Hawaiʻi residents spent at least $230 million on out-of-state cancer care between 2021 and 2023, with annual spending climbing from about $58 million in 2021 to $94 million in 2022 before settling near $79 million in 2023, per the same University of Hawaiʻi System News report.
Breast cancer accounted for the largest total out-of-state spending at $59.5 million, but leukemia patients were disproportionately likely to leave the state for care — 39 percent of leukemia treatment spending occurred outside Hawaiʻi, the highest share of any cancer type, according to the UH report. Patients with complex cancers, including leukemia and brain tumors, were most likely to require that out-of-state care in the first place.
The shortage driving those numbers is workforce-based as much as geographic: the JABSOM announcement identifies an acute shortage of oncology professionals that is especially severe on the neighbor islands and in remote and rural parts of the U.S.-Affiliated Pacific. That shortage lands hardest on specific populations — from 2013 to 2015, Native Hawaiians had the highest mortality rate for all types of cancer compared with whites in the islands, per the same source, and the state's aging population is expected to intensify the strain. By 2030, people age 65 and older are projected to make up 29.7 percent of Hawaiʻi's population, compared with 20 percent nationally.
Leaders React to the Award
UH Cancer Center Director Naoto T. Ueno said the Helmsley support enables efforts to address systemic barriers to care across Hawaiʻi. UH Mānoa Chancellor Vassillis Symros said the support affirms UH Mānoa's commitment to serving the health and well-being of the entire state. Walter Panzirer, a trustee of the Helmsley Charitable Trust, said every cancer patient deserves access to world-class, timely care regardless of their home island.
The UH Cancer Center holds the distinction of being Hawaiʻi and the Pacific's only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center, focusing on research, education and reducing cancer health disparities. The new grant builds on the Helmsley Trust's earlier $1.2 million award that supported the launch of the Hoʻōla Early Phase Clinical Research Center, which opened July 6 as the first dedicated center in the islands designed to conduct early-phase clinical trials for cancer, per University of Hawaiʻi News. The center is aiming to have 30 active early-phase clinical trials running by 2031.
Part of a Broader Helmsley Push in Hawaiʻi
The new grant also follows two earlier Helmsley awards to the University of Hawaiʻi totaling more than $2.2 million — one to the UH Cancer Center and one to the medical school — according to the University of Hawaiʻi Foundation. The Rural Healthcare program within the Helmsley Charitable Trust has invested $88 million in cancer care nationally since 2009, according to Hawaiʻi Pacific Health, which has also received Helmsley funding for its own facilities.
That includes a $5 million grant to Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women & Children to build the Martha B. Smith Cancer & Infusion Center, a 25,000-square-foot facility described as five times larger than the hospital's current space, with double the infusion bays and expanded clinical-trial research space. Wilcox Medical Center on Kauaʻi received a separate $10.6 million Helmsley grant in August 2024 for diagnostic and radiology equipment, the hospital system noted.
Ka ʻUmeke Lama is designed to coordinate with other players in the state's cancer-care landscape, including Hawaiʻi Cancer Consortium members Hawaiʻi Pacific Health, The Queen's Health Systems, HMSA, Kuakini Medical Center and Adventist Health Castle, according to JABSOM. The initiative also plans to expand a cancer care access program meant to improve patient navigation, referrals and clinical trial participation statewide, alongside a centralized clinical research database and AI-based tools for screening and monitoring cancer clinical trials.
