John Shepherd, chief scientific officer at the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center, has been named the B.H. and Alice C. Beams Endowed Professor at UH Manoa’s John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM). Shepherd will receive $60,000 over three years to advance breast cancer awareness, prevention and treatment in Hawaiʻi and the US Affiliated Pacific Island Jurisdictions (USAPI).
“I want to reduce breast cancer mortality in Hawaiʻi, and the Pacific region,” said Shepherd, who is also an adjunct faculty in JABSOM’s Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. “To do this, we propose to investigate the metrics hindering early detection programs, timely diagnosis and treatment delivery and compliance.”
I want to reduce breast cancer mortality in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific region.
—John Shepherd
He will focus on the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Global Breast Cancer Initiative’s three pillars, which aim to reduce global breast cancer mortality by 2.5% annually: 1) health promotion for early detection; 2) timely breast diagnostics; and 3) comprehensive breast cancer management.
Breast cancer remains one of the top causes of cancer in each USAPI jurisdiction, some of which have no mammography services available, and most of which face geographic and other barriers to screening or early detection of breast and other screenable cancers. The percentage of invasive cancers diagnosed at stage 3 or higher is significantly higher than in the contiguous United States.
“Dr. Shepherd’s proposal aligns with both JABSOM and UH Cancer Center missions by conducting research and translating discoveries into practice, establishing community partnerships, and fostering multidisciplinary collaboration,” said JABSOM Interim Dean Lee Buenconsejo-Lum, who also leads the Pacific Regional Central Cancer Registry Program and has co-led, with Neal Palafox, the Pacific Regional Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, for more than two decades. “Dr. Palafox and I are excited for Dr. Shepherd and his team to join the USAPI efforts toward a cancer-free Pacific.”
The B.H. and Alice C. Beams Endowed Professorship was established by Betty Mae Ling in memory of her parents, Mrs. Alice C. Beams and Mr. B.H. Beams. Betty Mae was a retired Aiea Elementary School kindergarten teacher who passed away in 2014. The endowment supports cancer research at JABSOM.
