Honolulu-based University of Hawaii's John A. Burns School of Medicine will establish a diabetes research center thanks to an $11.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, according to Hawaii News Now.
Researchers at the center, called Center for Biomedical Research Excellence on Diabetes, will study genetic changes that cause increased diabetes rates for Hawaiians and Pacific islanders, which is not being researched elsewhere in the U.S.
"This particular grant while it might not provide patient care or a cure that we can offer in a year or two, it's helping us understand the underlying cause, the root cause of type two diabetes," Marjorie Mau, MD, an endocrinologist and deputy director of the diabetes center, told Hawaii News Now.