Systemwide unit for UH
health sciences proposed
Such a department could jump-start
the state’s biotech sector
A Board of Regents task force is recommending that the John A. Burns School of Medicine be spun off from the University of Hawaii at Manoa to become part of a new systemwide health sciences unit based at the Kakaako Biomedical Complex.
The $150 million medical school building at Kakaako is scheduled to open in March. It is hoped that the medical school and a planned research building will become catalysts for a potentially lucrative biotech industry in Hawaii.
Consultants hired by the task force made recommendations on how best to develop the health science industry and medical school. They looked at 28 biomedical and health science institutions in the United States, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong and interviewed people here who have a stake in the Kakaako complex.
The consultants also recommended creating a new position for a systemwide vice president for health sciences and an entrepreneur-in-residence to seek out venture capital and help commercialize research at the biomedical center.
The recommendations were presented to the board yesterday.
The medical school, the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii and the Pacific Biomedical Research Center would report to the vice president for health sciences. The School of Nursing and the Public Health department would become part of the medical school.
A new Health Sciences Council with representatives from UH, state government and private industry would meet regularly to coordinate development of biotechnology in Hawaii.
"I'm in strong favor of it," said medical school Dean Edwin Cadman. "It has to become a reality if we want the university to partake in this growing life-sciences industry."
However, consultants Richard Sherman, senior vice president for Hawaii Biotech Inc., and Glenn Miyataki, president of the Japan-America Institute of management Science, said they have not looked at the additional cost to create a health sciences unit.
Sherman noted that the successful biotech complexes they visited came about only because of financial commitment and investment over decades.
"Whether we have the financial and political will to stay the course is something we will see," he said.
Cadman noted, "It's like a small company: You need to invest before you can realize profitability."
He said revenues from research and other sources to the medical school increased by 81 percent this year to $100 million and could go up to $110 million next year.
"If we do this correctly, it will be the revitalization of Kakaako and nurturing a new industry," Cadman said.
The consultants said communication between different health sciences units needs to be improved if the complex is to be successful.
The consultants' report, which cost $147,000, also suggested that the university re-examine the relationship between the university, physician-faculty and local hospitals. It suggested creating partnerships with hospitals willing to become official "teaching hospitals" where clinical research and practice could be coordinated.
The recommendations will be discussed at this month's regents meeting in Hilo. Whatever is adopted will be forwarded to the UH administration to work out the details, then will be brought back to the board for public hearings in January or February.
