According to the CRCH web site, the Center was originally a part of the Pacific Biomedical Reserach Center before becoming a freestanding independent institute in 1981.

Carbone was selected to head the Center by the university’s Board of Regents, which is comprised of 15 board members, the Chronicle reports. According to the news story, Carbone was elected to a three-year term, and began his new position Sept. 1, 2009. He had previously served as interim director beginning in December 2008 when the Center’s previous director resigned.

According to the Chronicle, Dr. Carbone is “deemed an authority on malignant mesothelioma, a rare cancer related to asbestos exposure. Dr. Carbone and his team have comprehensively studied the impact of genetics, environmental carcinogens and viral infections on mesothelioma development and have subsequently worked to develop preventative and therapeutic treatments.”

An October 2008 story about Carbone published by MidWeek, an Oahu-based publishing company, noted that the physician previously discovered that many people who develop mesothelioma are genetically predisposed to developing the cancer. He and his team conducted extensive studies in Turkey, near the small village of Cappadocia.

Dr. Carbone is the recipient of the 2008-2010 Landon Foundation-AACR (American Association for Cancer Reserach) INNOVATOR Award for International Collaboration in Cancer Reserach for his project, Gene Environment Interaction and Early Detection of Mesothelioma in Cappadocia, Turkey.

SOURCE: myMeso › Mesothelioma researcher to head Hawaii cancer center