MEDIA RELEASE

The University of Hawaii’s multidisciplinary research into why some of Hawaii’s residents live the longest while others struggle to get beyond their 50’s will continue under the leadership of John A. Burns School of Medicine Dean Jerris Hedges, MD.

The $15.4 million, five-year renewal comes on the heels of a successful foundation laid in the first four years of the RMATRIX grant, a centerpiece of how investigators across UH Manoa are focusing health research on an essential theme: how to make the lives of people in the state’s multi-ethnic population better.

Echoing one research goal, Dr. Kathryn Braun, Director of the Community-Based Research Core of the project asks, “What programs and treatments are needed to improve the health of ALL of Hawaii’s people?”

“RMATRIX-II continues hookahua (to lay a foundation) for leading-edge research that promotes a healthier Hawaii,” said Dr. Noreen Mokuau, dean of the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work, and–along with Dr. Hedges–is Principal Investigator of the grant.

Research awards earned by the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) also benefit the university as a whole. Fifty percent of each award to JABSOM goes to UH Manoa and the other campuses of the University of Hawaii System, for support of their operations.

RMATRIX stands for RCMI Multidisciplinary and Translational Research Infrastructure Expansion. The RCMI is the Research Centers in Minority Institutions of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.