University of Hawai?i at Manoa

07/12/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/12/2024 19:05

VNR: UH Cancer Center celebrates employees, scientific progress

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Contact:

Link to video and sound (details below): https://go.hawaii.edu/geF
(Photos are also available upon request)

**Suggested VOSOT script below**

WHAT: The University of Hawai'i Cancer Center hosted an "Employee Appreciation Day" event for nearly 200 of its faculty and staff who assembled for a special celebration. UH Cancer Center Director and two-time cancer survivor Naoto Ueno addressed employees about the center's anticipated final notice of its five-year renewal of its National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation.

WHEN: July 12, 2024

WHO: Nearly 200 employees of the UH Cancer Center, including research, clinical and support staff attended the event.

WHERE: UH Cancer Center (Kaka'ako campus of UH Mānoa)

WHY: The event celebrates the collective work and progress by UH Cancer Center employees toward ending cancer and saving lives in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific. It also marks a recent positive visit by representatives from the federal NCI, as the UH Cancer Center awaits final notice on renewal as one of only 72 cancer centers with a prestigious NCI designation.

OTHER FACTS:

  • The event included a Hawaiian protocol welcome by the UH Mānoa Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Advancement Office reaffirming a commitment to UH being an Indigenous place of learning.
  • The UH Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific, serving and researching Hawaiʻi's multi-ethnic and Native Hawaiian populations, as well as the US-Affiliated Pacific Islands.
  • The UH Cancer Center, founded over 50 years ago, received its prestigious initial National Cancer Institution designation from 1974 to 1985. It regained NCI designation in 1996 and has maintained it continuously for 28 years and counting.
  • UH Cancer Center has done research that has included thousands of Hawaiʻi residents and helped thousands of patients through research, clinical trials and treatments.
  • The NCI Cancer Centers Program was created as part of the National Cancer Act of 1971 and is one of the anchors of the nation's cancer research effort. Through this program, NCI recognizes centers that meet rigorous standards for transdisciplinary, state-of-the-art research focused on developing new and better approaches to preventing, diagnosing and treating cancer.
  • NCI-Designated Cancer Centers are recognized for their scientific leadership in laboratory and clinical research, in addition to serving their communities and the broader public by integrating training and education for biomedical researchers and health care professionals.

Link to video and sound (details below): https://go.hawaii.edu/geF

VIDEO BROLL: trt 1:20

-Entire staff taking a group photo
-Ueno addressing employees

SOUNDBITES:

Naoto T. Ueno, UH Cancer Center Director and Cancer Survivor (:17)
"Todayʻs celebration is really to show our strong appreciation to our employees because we will have a formal announcement next week regarding our NCI (National Cancer Institute) designation of our cancer center."

Ueno (:25)
"So when I say care, we're talking about developing new types of cancer prevention, new ways of diagnosing cancer, new ways of treating the cancer. So collectively, all these activities result in saving lives in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific"

Ueno (:25)
"300 actually physically in this building. But we also work with our partners, the healthcare partners and thereʻs additional which I canʻt really count, but thereʻs a number of physicians, nurses and research people who are outside. So every one of us works together to make that difference."

VOSOT SCRIPT

INTRO
The University of Hawaii Cancer Center hosted an "Employee Appreciation Day" event for nearly 200 of its research, clinical and support staff who assembled for a special celebration.

VO
UH Cancer Center Director and two-time cancer survivor Naoto Ueno addressed employees about the center's important mission and the critical work the team does for Hawaiʻi and beyond.

SOT
(Naoto T. Ueno, UH Cancer Center Director and Cancer Survivor)

<"So when I say care, we're talking about developing new types of cancer prevention, new ways of diagnosing cancer, new ways of treating the cancer. So collectively, all these activities result in saving lives in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific.">

VO
The UH Cancer Center is one of only 72 National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers in the nation. And it is the only NCI-designated cancer center in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific, serving and researching Hawaiʻi's multi-ethnic and Native Hawaiian populations, as well as the US-Affiliated Pacific Islands.