Population Sciences in the Pacific Program

Current studies — open for recruitment

Shape Up! studies led by John Shepherd
To learn more, visit shepherdresearchlab.org

Shape Up! Keiki and Shape Up! Adults studies explore and develop ways to measure health and body composition from 2D and 3D images to improve the understanding of metabolic risk factors and its relation to cancer.

Healthy Diet and Lifestyle 2 (HDLS 2) led by Loïc Le Marchand and Song-Yi Park
HDLS 2 investigates if certain changes in dietary habits coupled with physical activity affect the amount of fat stored in the abdomen and the rest of the body to reduce disease risk.

Cancer care coordination studies led by Izumi Okado
The study is seeking volunteers with early-stage cancer (I-III) receiving adjuvant therapy to help improve cancer care in two ongoing studies, recruiting on Hawaii, Kauai and Maui.

Ongoing research

Hawaiʻi and Pacific Islands Mammography Registry (HIPIMR) led by John Shepherd
The study is looking to more accurately determine a woman’s risk for breast cancer and will launch a new questionnaire that aims to standardize breast health information collected at mammography clinics around Hawaiʻi and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI).

Hawaiʻi Minority Health and Cancer Disparities SPORE led by Loïc Le Marchand and Jeffery Berenberg
This study conducts translational research that will address the excess burden of lung and breast cancers in Native Hawaiians and rising breast cancer rates in Asian Americans.

UH Pacific Center for Genome Research led by Lang Wu and Youping Deng
The researchers will establish the UH Pacific Center for Genome Research (PCGR) to conduct genomic research in cancer and advance the genomic research workforce at the University of Hawaiʻi.

Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the tobacco use behavior among Hawaiʻi emerging adults led by Pallav Pokhrel
The researcher is investigating the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on on Hawaiʻi emerging adults' mental health and tobacco use behaviors.

Developing and testing an e-cigarette use prevention program for rural Hawaiian youths led by Scott Okamoto
The researcher is using extensive formative research to develop a culturally-grounded, school-based e-cigarette use prevention curriculum for Guam middle school students. The prevention program will be tested in a randomized controlled trial.

Conducting a betel nut cessation trial in Guam led by Thaddeus Herzog and Yvette Paulino
The researchers conducted a randomized controlled trial to test a betel nut cessation interventions.

Colon Cancer Family Registry (CCFR) Cohort led by Loïc Le Marchand and six other investigators is an international consortium that studies the etiology, prevention and clinical management of colorectal cancer.

Nutrition study led by Lynne Wilkens
The project aims to identify errors in dietary assessment methods that serve as links between diet and chronic disease outcomes such as obesity and cancer.

Structural racism and lung cancer study led by Sung-shim (Lani) Park
This study examines various measures of structural racism that contribute to change in smoking behaviors and lung cancer risk in African American, Japanese American, Latino, and Native Hawaiian adults.

Prostate cancer risk prediction led by Lang Wu
The study increases understanding of the causes of prostate cancer in an effort to improve the prediction of future disease. The research will help to identify proteins that play a role in prostate cancer development.

Developing and testing tobacco and betel nut use prevention for Guam youths led by Pallav Pokhrel & Francis Dalisay
The study developed a school-based tobacco, including e-cigarette, and betel nut use prevention curriculum for middle school students in Guam. The curriculum was tested across 8 public middle schools in Guam using a randomized controlled trial.

Multiethnic Cohort study led by Loïc Le Marchand, Lynne Wilkens and Christopher Haiman (at USC)
The MEC is a large epidemiological study which follows over 215,000 residents of Hawaiʻi and Los Angeles for development of cancer and other chronic diseases. It includes men and women of five main ethnic groups: Japanese Americans, Native Hawaiians, African Americans, Latinos, and whites. The MEC includes many ancillary studies that aim to improve our understanding of cancer risk factors and cancer risk across the five racial and ethnic groups.