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The University of Hawai‘i Cancer Center is proud to host the 17th Annual Weinman Symposium, on January 21-23 in the Sullivan Conference Center. This year the Weinman Symposium focuses on cancer genetics and environmental carcinogenesis, with 27 presentations by experts hailing from across the U.S., Europe and Asia. Among the highlights: On January 23, there will be a 1-hour roundtable discussion with Gov. Josh Green about the future of cancer research in the midst of federal funding cuts. Symposium attendance is free, and students are welcome and encouraged to ask questions of symposium faculty. For the full schedule, click here; for general information on the symposium, go to WeinmanSymposium.com.

There’s still time to sign up for “Caring for Caregivers,” our next Susan C. Hirano Cancer CARE Community event, taking place Saturday, January 17, at our Sullivan Conference Center. The public is invited to this free interactive workshop designed to acknowledge and empower caregivers while building a supportive community. Topics include: caregiver research done at the UH Cancer Center, self-care tips, and ways to express and process emotions safely. Separate sessions will be facilitated for caregivers and patients/survivors/thrivers, to foster open, supportive dialogue. Click here for program information. Click here to register by Jan. 14.

The University of Hawaiʻi has secured two major grants from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, each exceeding $1 million, to support health-oriented initiatives, the university has announced. One grant will go to our University of Hawai‘i Cancer Center and the other to the John A. Burns School of Medicine. The UH Cancer Center award will fund essential start-up costs for the groundbreaking new Hoʻōla Early Phase Clinical Research Center, scheduled to open in March 2026. “This support from the Helmsley Trust will help us accelerate the launch of the Hoʻōla Early Phase Clinical Research Center — a critical step toward expanding access to novel cancer treatments for our communities,” said UH Cancer Center Director Naoto T. Ueno, who is a two-time cancer survivor himself. “This aligns with our mission to save lives in Hawaiʻi and in the Pacific, and strengthens our position as a local and national leader in cancer research.” Click here for full story.

Researchers from our UH Cancer Center have found that when breast cancers stop responding to a first antibody-drug treatment, changing the type of drug attached to the antibody can bring the treatment effect back in laboratory and animal models. The findings were presented last month at the prestigious San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, and offer clinicians a practical way to choose the next antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) treatment after progression. The UH Cancer Center's Dr. Jason Lee presented the team’s findings at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, considered the largest

breast-cancer research meeting in the world. Click here for full story.

UH Cancer Center Director Naoto T. Ueno and his wife, Miwa Ueno, have announced an estate gift to the UH Foundation to establish the Michiko, Miwa, and Naoto Ueno Memorial Fund. The fund will provide long-term, unrestricted support for the UH Cancer Center’s most pressing needs. “This gift comes from gratitude and responsibility — a deep sense of kuleana, our shared obligation to give back to the community that has welcomed us so warmly,” Dr. Ueno said. The vision is “to help ensure future generations in Hawaiʻi and across the Pacific will have access to even stronger cancer care and research,” he added. To read the full story, click here.

The public is invited to join the Nutrition Support Shared Resource team at their first ever Open House:

Tuesday, Jan. 20, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Translational Research Clinic on the 1st floor, near the Leahi entrance of the UH Cancer Center

Meet the NSSR team, try interactive activities, view cooking demonstrations, explore the research spaces, and view the tools they use. Free coffee and a photobooth will be provided to commemorate the occasion. Registration ends tomorrow, January 9; click here to register.

(Pictured from left: Dr. Naoto T. Ueno, Director, UH Cancer Center; Dr. Linda Wong, Professor, Translational and Clinical Research, UH Cancer Center; Dr. Jamie Fukui, Chief of Clinical Breast Oncology, UH Cancer Center; state Senator Sharon Moriwaki, District 12, O‘ahu.)

State Senator Sharon Moriwaki recently presented Dr. Jami Fukui and Dr. Linda Wong, faculty members at our UH Cancer Center, with special state Senate recognition certificates that recognize and congratulate them for being named 2025 Healthcare Heroes, and for providing "outstanding service to the state in advancing cancer healthcare, clinical practice, research and education." Dr. Wong and Dr. Fukui were among only five healthcare providers statewide recognized by the Healthcare Association of Hawaii as 2025 Hawaii Healthcare Heroes, a patient-nominated award. Mahalo to Senator Moriwaki for her continued support!

A past participant in our center’s CREATE internship program, University of Guam junior Danielle Marie Balmores, received an Outstanding Presentation Award at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists in November. The honor recognizes excellence in research communication and scientific rigor among emerging scholars. Her presentation featured the results of the research she conducted at the UH Cancer Center last summer under the guidance of UH Cancer Center research faculty members Dr. John Shepherd and Dr. Jonathan Bennett. Balmores explored the accuracy of body composition measurements, a critical factor in health and medical research. Congratulations, Danielle!

‘Caring for Caregivers’ — Presented by the Susan C. Hirano Cancer CARE Community of the UH Cancer Center
Saturday, January 17 | 9-11 a.m.
Sullivan Conference Center, UH Cancer Center
Free admission
Click here to register; deadline extended to Jan. 14
Program information at UHCancerCenter.org/cancercare

Open House by Nutrition Support Shared Resource (NSSR)
Tuesday, January 20 | 10:30 a.m - 1:30 p.m
Translational Research Clinic, 1st Floor
UH Cancer Center
Click here to register; deadline is January 9

The Barry & Virginia Weinman Symposium 2026
Wednesday, January 21, to Friday, January 23
Sullivan Conference Center, UH Cancer Center
Public invited; free admission
weinmansymposium.com

JOB BOARD

Graduate Research Assistant - Population Sciences in the Pacific

Professor - Ho‘ōla Early Phase Clinical Research Center Director

Inhibition of GSK3 and TSC2 Mediates the Oncogenic Activity of AKT in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Cui G, Zhou Y, Liao W, Cossu E, Evert M, Zhang S, Wang J, Deng S, Yonemura A, David L, Xu M, Doumergue JM, Lu X, Yang L, Li J, Liang B, Wang H, Xu H, Zhong S, Deng Y, Calvisi DF, Zhao J, Chen X, Wang X. Cancer Res. 2025 Dec 15;85(24):5049-5065.

Proteome-wide association study of prostate cancer risk across populations. Zhong H, Zhu J, Liu S, Wu C, Wang L, Whelton SP, Marshall CH, Blaha MJ, Durda P, Guo X, Johnson CW, Lin HJ, Taylor KD, Tracy RP, Yarden RI, Manichaikul AW, Rich SS, Rotter JI, Deo R, Dubin RF, Ganz P, Wu L. Nat Commun. 2025 Dec 6

Eligibility and Prognostic Performance of Smoking Duration-Based Versus Pack-Year-Based U.S. National Lung Cancer Screening Criteria Across Racial and Ethnic Groups. Su CC, Ding VY, Ten Haaf K, Wu JT, Freedman ND, Backhus LM, Leung AN, Lui NS, Haiman CA, Park SL, Neal JW, Meza R, Tammemägi MC, Cheng I, Le Marchand L, Wakelee HA, Choi E, Han SS. Ann Intern Med. 2025 Dec 16.

A Nationally Representative US Health and Retirement Study on Mammography Screening Use and Its Predictors Among Older Adult Women Ages 60 to 85.Sy A, Kataoka-Yahiro M, Davis J, Pirani S, Kinoshita Y, Harada N, Kanaoka M, Miyazono M. Breast Cancer (Auckl). 2025 Dec 3;19:11782234251392690. 

Developing a prediction model in a large case-control study for the early detection of bladder cancer. Tanaka S, Wilkens LR, Marchand LL, Yang G, Yuan JM, Koh WP, Shrubsole MJ, Luu M, Pagano I, Figueiredo JC, Furuya H, Rosser CJ. J Transl Med. 2025 Dec 5. 

Racial and ethnic disparities in survival outcomes among patients with inflammatory breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Wannaphut C, Ponvilawan B, Iwase T, Takahashi Y, Wang X, Ueno NT. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2025 Dec 13. 

Uncoupling Metastasis and Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition in sgP19/kRAS-Driven Spontaneous Metastatic Liver Tumor Model. Wang J, Xu Z, Xu L, Wang L, Geng J, Wang X, Xu M, Superville D, Reeves M, Evert M, Calvisi DF, Chen X, Song X. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2025 Dec 7:e14198. 

Epidemiological survey of potential familial myelodysplastic syndromes/acute myeloid leukemia in Hawaii. Takaoka K, Tanariyakul M, Miyashita A, Nishimura Y, Chow D, Sumida K. Int J Hematol. 2025 Dec 12. 

Targeted Disruption of Selenocysteine Lyase in Brown Adipocytes Controls Glutathione Peroxidase 1 and 4 Expression in Males. Santiago PJD, Shimada BK, Alfulaij N, Hallam KA, Soares AG, Young V, Swanson SM, Remedios GL, Toh P, Seale LA. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2025 Dec 9. 

Does changing the routinely recommended age for HPV vaccination change parental thoughts about vaccinating their adolescent: A mixed-methods analysis. Coad S, Liebermann EJ, Lim E, Matsunaga M, Zimet G, Fontenot HB. Vaccine. 2025 Dec 13;71:128080. 

Diketopiperazines from marine-derived Exserohilum sp. M1-6. Xu R, Wang J, Liu C, Yang X, Chen M, Jin Z, Zheng S, Li P, Wang C, Cao S. Nat Prod Res. 2026 Jan 4:1-7

When vaccines reset tumors: SARS-CoV-2 mRNA shots create a transient checkpoint-sensitive state. Chi H, Carbone M, Deng Y. Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2025 Dec 31;10(1):423. 

Unearthing soil biodiversity through collaborative genomic research and education. BioDIGS Consortium; Alberts T, Albritton CF, Alcazar R, Aljabri Z, Alvarez M, Aradhey A, Ayalew M, Azizian N, Balayah Y, Ball DD, Barragan E, Beshoar C, Best L, Biggane E, Biggane J, Blick J, Blosser M, Brown AK, Campbell MC, Canizares Z, Chanhuhwa FN, Chen Y, Chin DR, Chowdhury K, Collins T, Compton B, Da Silva J, Davis NR, DeCaro N, Delgadillo F, Deng Y, … Zirkle L. Nat Genet. 2025 Dec 29. 

Global loss of selenocysteine lyasein mice drives lipid accumulation in brown adipocytes. Shimada BK, Ogawa-Wong AN, Soares AG, Hallam KA, Santiago PJ, Saelua K, Nakahara-Akita KK, Torres DJ, Brockman JD, Kurokawa S, Ewell K, Bellinger MT, Toh P, Lagatta Pamplona Remedios G, Alfulaij N, Swanson SM, Seyedali A, Zavacki AM, Berry MJ, Seale LA. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2025 Dec 26. 

Food for Thought: The Role of Nutrition in Behavioral Health. Barker MJ, Esquivel MK. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2025 Dec 23:15598276251408332. 

Childhood exposure to second-hand smoke (SHS) and risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal never smokers: the Multiethnic Cohort (MEC) study. Gram IT, Park SY, Wilkens LR, Haiman CA, Wu AH, Le Marchand L. Breast Cancer Res. 2025 Dec 25. 

Mechanisms of resistance to trastuzumab deruxtecan in breast cancer elucidated by multi-omic molecular profiling. Sledge GW, Xiu J, Mahtani RL, Sandoval Leon AC, Meric-Bernstam F, Ribeiro JR, Kulkarni NN, Rampa DR, Lee J, Ueno NT, Oberley MJ, Radovich M, Spetzler DB. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2025 Dec 20. 

Peptidyl-tRNA hydrolase 2 is a negative regulator of peripartum cardiomyopathy with heart failure in female mice. Montoya-Uribe V, Choubey P, Walton CB, Glibetic N, Seok Yang W, Aan FJ, Lindsey S, Peplowska K, Hernandez BY, Ramos JW, Matter ML. Nat Commun. 2025 Dec 19.

A new sUSPect in T-ALL risk stratification. Si Lim SJ, Teachey DT. Blood Adv. 2025 Dec 23;9(24):6467-6468. 

Association of a Lifestyle Risk Index With Visceral and Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue in the German National Cohort (NAKO). Maskarinec G, Klapp R, Nöthlings U, Schulze MB, Bamberg F, Machann J, Schlesinger S, Leitzmann M, Sedlmeier A, … Pischon T. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2026 Jan;34(1):246-257. 

Reconsidering the definition of triple-negative breast cancer in the immune checkpoint inhibitor era: an optimal cut-off value for hormone receptor percentage of HER2-negative invasive breast cancer. Fujii T, Iwase T, Shen Y, Fukui J, Ueno NT. Br J Cancer. 2026 Jan;134(1):1-7

The gSOS polygenic score is associated with bone density and fracture risk in childhood. Mitchell JA, Bradfield J, McCormack SE, Chesi A, Kalkwarf HJ, Lappe JM, Oberfield SE, Duren DL, Shepherd JA, Hankenson KD, Kelly A, Hakonarson H, Grant SFA, Zemel BS. J Bone Miner Res. 2025 Dec 30;41(1):15-24. 

The Fuetsan Manhoben Curriculum: Effects on Risk Perceptions and Intentions Regarding Tobacco and Betel Nut Use Among Adolescents in Guam. Dalisay F, Okamoto SK, Kawabata Y, Pokhrel P. Subst Use Misuse. 2026;61(2):276-286. 

Risk Factor Profiles and Elevated Incidence of Pancreatic Cancer in Native Hawaiians. Han S, Paik A, Acoba J, Wilkens LR, Le Marchand L, Huang BZ. Am J Gastroenterol. 2026 Jan 1;121(1):274-276. 

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