University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center associate professor Lang Wu is the 2024 东精影业 nominee for the Governor’s Award for Distinguished State Service Employee of the Year. Wu is the founding director of the 东精影业 (PCGR), established in 2023 through a $10.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
“I’m very excited and also humbled to receive this nomination on behalf of 东精影业,” said Wu after receiving the nomination at the September 19 Board of Regents meeting at Leeward Community College. “This recognition certainly goes beyond my personal effort, it is truly a , especially by our PCGR co-director and the directors of the PCGR Workforce Development Core and the PCGR Community Engagement Core.”
The center is composed of over a dozen investigators across three units—东精影业 Cancer Center, 东精影业 惭ā苍辞补 John A Burns School of Medicine and 东精影业 惭ā苍辞补 College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. It aims to foster innovative genomic research for diverse and underrepresented populations and is one of only two full-scale Diversity Centers for Genome Research in the entire U.S.
‘Health benefits to all’
“The goal of our center is to bring health benefits across different populations, including the underserved populations of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islands, here,” said Wu. “I’m very excited for this recognition and we will work even harder to make sure we achieve our goal to bring health benefits to all.”
When presenting the award, 东精影业 President David Lassner commented on Wu’s contributions beyond the establishment of the center and its important research.
“The center?s Genomic Workforce Development Core provides a graduate-level ‘workforce-in-training’ program to help expand career pathways for scientists, researchers and other genomic careers,” said Lassner. “Dr. Wu?s own research has generated important findings with significant implications for prostate and pancreatic cancer prevention and prediction. In addition to offering numerous publications, presenting at conferences and teaching classes, he also finds time to mentor students at high school, undergraduate and graduate levels.”
The is this year’s 东精影业 nominee for the Governor’s Award for Distinguished State Service Team of the Year award, which was announced at the August 15 BOR meeting at 东精影业 Maui.
Each state department may submit one nominee for each award category, who then go on to compete for the Governor’s Awards, which will be announced on September 24, 2024.