Michele Carbone was asked to be the Acting Director of the Cancer Center in 2008 because it was facing significant challenges, including not meeting requirements for National Cancer Institute designation renewal and lacking a plan for a new building. After becoming Director, Carbone formed a consortium with major hospitals to work together effectively and streamline clinical trials. A new cancer center building was constructed and funding increased substantially. The Cancer Center received an "Excellent" rating in its 2012 review and Carbone's performance was rated "Outstanding." While many were supportive of the success, some faced with changes felt jealousy or envy and falsely attacked Carbone in the media. Now stabilized, Carbone feels the work of improving the Cancer Center is finished and

1. Statement from Michele Carbone
Virginia Hinshaw asked me to take on the position of Acting Director of the Cancer Center in
December, 2008. At that time, it was felt that the Cancer Center was facing significant
challenges. The Center had not submitted it’s application for renewal of its National Cancer
Institute (NCI) designation because it did not meet the minimum NCI requirements to apply; the
Cancer Center was not working effectively with the medical school and some of the leading O’ahu
hospitals; and the dream of having a new Cancer Center building — one of the NCI expectations
— seemed an impossibility. After years of discussions about the building project, there was not
even a final agreement on where to build it, nor were there architectural plans to design the
building.
Soon after I became Director, we formed a Consortium with some of the major O’ahu hospitals—
Queen Medical Center, Hawaii Pacific Health and Kuakini—and with the Medical School; and the
Consortium has worked synergistically and in complete harmony for the past six years. For
example, today only one single IRB (ethical permit) is required to perform a clinical trial in Hawaii,
before we formed a Consortium, each Hospital and the University had to apply for its own IRB.
The result of this is that we have significantly speed up the process to make clinical trials
available to Hawaii residents and reduced their need to travel to mainland for
treatment. Moreover, we built one of the most well-designed and beautiful cancer center building
in the country where we all work. We also got the support of the community behind us, and we
raised over $25M in five years, an average of $5M/year, compared to averages of $300-400K in
the previous five years before I was appointed Director. We also recruited many outstanding
Faculty from the best universities and research Institutions in the country. In short, we exceeded
every expectation, and this was clearly stated in the official report written by a panel of over
twenty reviewers appointed by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 2012 (this is the most strict
peer review -i.e., audit- that a cancer center and its director have to go through every 5 years)
that rated the Cancer Center overall performance as “Excellent”, a score that carries an automatic
5 years NCI designation, 2012-2017, and rated my performance as Director, “Outstanding” - this
review is available on our website. There are only 68 NCI designated cancer centers in the
country, and several States have none.
I am very proud of what we have accomplished—and by “we,” I mean the many Faculty and staff,
Consortium partners, community members, the “Friends of the Cancer Center” etc., that propelled
the Cancer Center towards its success.
Many people, and among them the vast majority of Faculty and Staff at the Cancer Center, were
and are very supportive and played a critical role in the success story of the Cancer Center.
However, our success led also to some jealousy and envy. In addition, there were some people
who did not like the changes we needed to implement in order to create a culture of productivity,
accountability and meritocracy. For the past year we—and I in particular—have been the target of
several gratuitous and false attacks by some news media that did not bother to check the
facts. These attacks have not been easy on my family. The University requested that I not
respond to any of the media attacks because it was felt that any response would potentially
create more controversy, so I was unable to correct any of the misinformation being circulated in
the media.
The situation at the Cancer Center has now stabilized. Much of the media controversy has
calmed down, and the Cancer Center is strong and stable. I feel strongly that I have done the
best that I can to help improve the Cancer Center, and I know that I am leaving a strong, healthy
facility with an outstanding faculty and staff.
I became a medical doctor because I wanted to understand the mechanisms that cause cancer
and find ways to prevent and cure it. I became the Director of the Cancer Center because I had
been asked to help out, and now that part of my work is finished. I am ready now to turn my full

2. attention back to my research, which is producing excellent results, and I hope that I will be able
to continue to find new ways to help cancer patients.
Michele
Carbone