Taparra Lab News

Stanford Medicine Magazine kicked off 2025 with a powerful issue, Reimagining Cancer, featuring the team's work on cancer care disparities through the lens of social determinants of health. The article underscores the critical gaps that remain and the urgent need for continued research in health disparities. Read more: Tackling Cancer Disparities.

Kekoa announced today that he has accepted a tenure-track Assistant Professor Position at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management and the David Geffen School of Medicine in the Department of Radiation Oncology. He will work with his team to continue to advocate and uplift all underserved communities, towards a path of health equity, including for Pasifika people. This position was made possible through the leadership of FSPH, DGSOM, the Institute of American Cultures/Asian American Studies Center, and the Chancellor, Executive Vice Chancellor, and Provost's Native American and Pacific Islander Bruins Rising Initiative.

Dr. Keliʻi Shontell was invited to meet with KHON News to discuss our team's recent papers published in JAMA and JAMA Network Open on the continued need to disaggregate and include NHPI health data in large national analyses. Hoʻomaikaʻi Dr. Shontell on the well-deserved spotlight and mahalo for uplifting the health of our lāhui!

Kekoa co-authored a paper in JAMA Internal Medicine in collaboration with Drs. Jacqueline Vo and Jaimie Shing, which identified significant mortality disparities between Pacific Islander and Asian American adults, emphasizing the importance of disaggregating these two distinct racial groups in health data. The study used National Center for Health Statistics death certificate data to calculate mortality rates for all causes and leading causes of death from 2018-2020, revealing that Pacific Islanders had markedly higher MRs than Asian Americans across various age groups and causes of death, including heart disease, diabetes, and COVID-19.

Mahalo to Kāʻeo for leading our lab meeting and sharing the knowledge he gained from participating in the University of Hawaiʻi (West Oʻahu) Native Hawaiian and Indigenous Health and Healing program. What a great program!

Check out the team's latest paper in collaboration with Dr. Jeremy Faust (Harvard) published in JAMA Internal Medicine, which quantified the historic mortality of the Lāhainā wildfires. These deadly fires raise alarms for climate health scientists to reevaluate how causes of death related to climate disasters are coded in the  International Classification of Diseases.

The team appreciates the support from the Stanford Cancer Institute's (SCI) Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion Seed Grant opportunity. This funding helps us continue the good work of researching optimal ways of evaluating some components of health equity within our community, whil working towards strengthening the Pacific Islander physician workforce.

The Bay Area members of the team got together over the winter holiday to celebrate achievements and milestones of the team. Proud of all of the accomplishments of this group and the rest of the team!

Congratulations to Jon Shih for his selection for the 2024 ASCO Quality Care Symposium Merit Award! He presented our team's work in San Francisco. Our team appreciates the continued support from the Conquer Cancer Foundation.

Hoʻomaikaʻi to Dr. Shontell and Kāʻeo for the invitation to speak on Hawaiʻi Public Radio about their experiences as young medical researchers. Your stories inspire us and we are so proud of you! Check out their segment: Local researchers study cancer in young Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders

Eric Pineda was invited to the 2024 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved. He gave a powerful presentation as a Pacific Islander and cancer survivor. Eric's story is one of courage and resilience. He inspires Pacific Islanders to advocate for health equity and work hard to chase their dreams.

Hoʻomaikaʻi Drs. Keliʻi Shontell and Nikki DeVille for this important JAMA paper emphasizing data inclusion and visibility for Pacific Islanders is critical for the present & future health of our communities, especially including our youth! Together we can make change!

Kekoa and Kai Akimoto were invited to the historic White House Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Convening. This inaugural event was hosted by the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Together at this invitation only event, Kai and Kekoa engaged with the top NHPI leaders in the nation on health policy issues relevant to the Pacific Islander community.

Kekoa was awarded an American Society of Radiation Oncology - Breast Cancer Research Foundation Travel Award to the 2024 ASTRO Annual Meeting. We appreciate the support from these organizations that support and uplift the health of our Pacific Islander communties.

Congratulations to Jeffrey Jones on his publication in JAMA Cardiology which speaks to the need for strengthening the physician workforce in cardiology. We acknowledge that having a strong foundation of physicians and leaders in cardiology and medicine can help build relations with our community members to uplift our health together.

The team published in JAMA Network Open a study titled "Racial Disparities in Cancer Stage at Diagnosis and Survival for Adolescents and Young Adults". We found that there are significant 10-year overall survival gaps among Indigenous Adolescent and Young Adults with the top 10 deadliest cancers in the United States. Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders make up some of the largest deficits in long-term survival. The findings highlight significant work to be done specifically for the Indigenous Adolesecent and Young Adult population with cancer.

Eric Pineda completed his ENT away rotation at Stanford Health Care as a part of the Stanford SCORE program. As a cancer survivor and Pacific Islander, he works tirelessly to advocate for the health of our communities. We wish him the best of luck in this year's match and know that wherever he ends up, he will make a significantly positive impact on those communities that he gets to serve.

Megan Gimmen, Ryan Benavente, Luke Roberto, and Kekoa were invited to publish 2 book chapters in Indigenous and Tribal Peoples and Cancer: Chapter 14 Indigenous Data Aggregation Perpetuates Structural Racism and Chapter 72 Oncology Clinical Trials and Indigenous Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Erasure. 

Kekoa was recognized as the 2024 NextGen Disruptor Award winner by Healio | HemOnc Today. This award acknowledges an “up-and-coming physician who is disrupting the status quo in the field, whether through new techniques, new thoughts, questioning methods or breakthrough research.” The award announcement stated, “The winner consistently comes to mind when we discuss ‘the next big thing.’” This recognition highlights the importance of the team’s research and its potential impact on achieving health equity. (Photo Credit: Healio)

Kekoa was the guest speaker at the 25th year celebration of Conquer Cancer The ASCO Foundation. The event raised over 4.7 million dollars to support lifesaving research and our mission. Our team appreciates the support from generous donors who contribute to the success of Conquer Cancer. Photo by © ASCO Matt Herp 2024.

In June, our team published a study in JAMA Health Forum highlighting significant disparities in Phase 2/3 oncology clinical trial representation. The study found that while the majority of studies in 4 high-impact journals publish race/ethnicity data, only 14% of trials report on American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) patients and 8% on Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander (NHPI) patients. Relative to the US population with cancer, the representation quotients among these Indigenous groups were not just low, but zero. The results indicate a complete omission relative to their population with cancer. Congratulations to the team, including Ryan Benavente, Jonathan Shih, Megan Gimmen, Kā‘eo Kekumano, Eric Pineda, Paul Tominez, Giselle Halualani, and Henrietta Cakobau for bringing this important statistic to light. We are grateful for the major assistance from our incredible team of senior authors.

Congratulations to team member Kai Akimoto for his interview with the University of Minnesota Medical School. Kai has been a critical team member who advocates for better representation of Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander patients in oncology clinical trials. He continues to aim to address and solve infrastructural healthcare inequalities. He is working towards developing training and rotation opportunities in the Pacific Islands to improve healthcare access and outcomes. Check out the article here:  "Improving Health at Home: Duluth Medical Student and Guam Native Kai Akimoto Works to Address Health Disparities Among Pacific Islanders."

Kekoa co-authored a Perspective piece in the NEJM that offers insights from the Indigenous Native Hawaiian community on navigating the aftermath of the deadliest wildfire in modern US history. This work emphasizes the importance of a Native Hawaiian perspective in ensuring the future health and well-being of the Lāhianā community. If you require access to the article, please message us.

Check out Kekoa's featured interview from the New England Journal of Medicine focusing on the Lāhainā, Maui wildfires and the future of Pacific Islander health.

Congratulations to Nikki Kalani Apana on an incredibly important publication in JAMA about the devastating impact of the 2023 Lāhainā wildfires on Native Hawaiian health, emphasizing the urgent need for culturally sensitive mental and physical healthcare solutions, and the importance of integrating Native Hawaiian perspectives in rebuilding and healthcare workforce development. We are so proud of her advocay fo the Native Hawaiian community.

The ACCME accredited Continuing Medical Education content generating group Acapedia highlighted the Taparra Lab's work on racial disparities of brachytherapy treatment.

Congratulations to Ryan Benavente and Megan Gimmen on their publication in JAMA that discusses the nuances of "United States" data in the context of national health care economic burden and the importance of counting patients who are from the US-affiliated Pacific Islands. Their insight is invaluable to the Taparra lab.

The team came together for a group wide workshop Summer 2023. The team is growing! It was an incredible opportunity for all of the Taparra Lab team members to come together in one space. We represent NHPI and NHPI-allied researchers from across the nation. We collectively have a diversity of ideas and expertise. We aim to amplify Pacific Islander voices. Join Us!

Kekoa was invited to speak as guest lecturer for a summer course of Professor Corina Penaia's course on Health Disparities in September 2023 at UCLA. His lecture focused on NHPI health, data disaggregation, and negative impacts of structural racism in healthcare.

Kekoa presented a lecture entitled "Combatting Indigenous Erasure Through Pacific Islander Data Inclusion" to UCSF medical students as a part of the Native Health elective run by Nikki Kalani Apana in September 2023.

📢 Excited to share Bryce Takenaka’s latest paper on how anti-LGBTQ+ discourse impacted gay, bisexual, and other sexual minoritized (GBSMM) men during the monkey pox outbreak in BMC Public Health. Bryce, a PhD student at Yale School of Public Health, explores how stigma affected perceptions and access to vaccines. The study examines the role of government, non-government health institutions, and media in perpetuating stigmatizing narratives. It underscores the necessity for culturally tailored preventive messaging that avoids reinforcing stigma. Congrats Bryce!

Kekoa was nominated for a Healio Disruptive Innovator Award in the NextGen Disruptor Category. Results to be announced at ASCO24.

Kekoa was invited to give a talk on Native Hawaiian health at the 2023 President Obama USA Leaders Summit in Chicago.

The lab had another awesome meeting in January to start off the calendar year with fellowship, writing workshop, and presentations by Kai Akimoto and Eric Pineda. Join Us!

Congratulations to Kai Akimoto on his first author review on Diversity in Cancer Care published in The Cancer Journal, co-mentored by Kekoa and Dr. Manali Patel.

In May, Kekoa was invited to present at the Stanford Medicine Research Management Group about the team's work on Pacific Islander health and Pacific Islander data inclusion.

Kekoa was selected as one of the Featured Speakers among hundreds of applicants across the country to present his work at the joint Stanford-Berkeley-UCSF Next Generation Faculty Symposium on November 17, 2023. Watch his presentation here.

Kekoa was recently interviewed by ASCO Connection to discuss the ongoing efforts to implement machine learning into health disparities research for Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders with cancer.

Congratulations to Kāʻeo Kekumano for recently graduating with a BA degree in Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology from Harvard University. Kāʻeo will be doing clinical research at Hawaii Pacific Health and taking classes at the University of Hawaiʻi focusing on Hawaiian and Indigenous Health and Healing in his year between graduation and starting medical school. Hoʻomaikaʻi!

MedPage featured Kekoa in a profile featuring members of the Taparra Lab team, fellow Pacific Islander scholars Ryan Benavente and Megan Gimmen.

Kekoa was featured in an interview written by Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton in the March 2024 issue of Ka Wai Ola, the newspaper of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Congratulations to Nikki Apana on her first author publication published January 1, 2024 in JAMA Pediatrics. With senior authors Kekoa and Dr. DeVille. The year is off to a great start for Taparra Lab members! Hauʻoli Makahiki Hou!

Congratulations to team member Kai Akimoto for his successful publication in the March 2024 issue of JAMA. He underscores the urgent need for dedicated support for Pacific Islander medical students and physicians. Investing in physicians from within our communities, especially in rural areas, has significant potential for improving our population's health. The publication highlights the vital role of Pacific Islanders in addressing our health disparities and calls for policymakers and healthcare systems to commit to these populations.

In March 2024, Kekoa was invited to the University of Pennsylvania to address Pacific Islander health at the 2024 ASAM Research Fellowship Symposium. He presented on the Public Health Panel entitled. Towards Healing: Uplifting Communities Through Public Health.

In March 2024, Kekoa presented his team's research on water sustainability in healthcare. The research was funded by the Stanford Health Care Sustainability SEED Grant program.

In April, Kekoa presented his team's research to the Hawaiʻi Medical Association as a part of the Continuing Medical Education program.

In May, Kekoa was invited to present at the Annual NIH Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Health Research Conference commemorating AANHPI May Heritage Month. The conference was sponsored by The National Cancer Institute. The Event was hosted by NIH AANHPI Health Scientific Interest Group (AANHPI-HSIG).

Kekoa was featured on the Conquer Cancer Foundation Meet the Researchers for the work funded by his ASCO Endowed Judith and Alan Kaur Young Investigator Award.

February 2024, Indigenous Fijian/Tongan student Henrietta Cakobau led the first of our lab meeting's cultural sessions, sharing her experiences of Fijian culture, history, and traditions. Her talk brought together the group by bridging all of us from different ends of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Henrietta is truly a gift to our team!

Our team appreciates the generous support from the Conquer Cancer Foundation donors and the American Society of Clinical Oncology for their support in NHPI research.

The recent monthly lab meeting, enriched by a workshop on PowerPoint and the power of storytelling, highlighted the exceptional dedication of NHPI and allied scholars, whose collaboration and commitment are instrumental in driving change, fostering an environment of professional growth and enduring friendships within the lab.

Kekoa presented at the Stanford University School of Medicine on Native Hawaiian and and other Pacific Islander health disparities to an audience of medical students and physician assistant students in October 2023.

Kekoa presented at the Pasifika Grand Rounds hosted by City of Hope and Healing Association of Pacific Islanders (HAPI) in October 2023.

Congrats to Dr. Alice Huang and Jon Shih on their publication in The Laryngoscope focused on racial disparities on 30-day unplanned readmission rates among patients with head and neck cancers in the United States. Our team identified that NHPI and Black patients have higher rates of unplanned readmissions, compared to Non-Hispanic White patients.

The Taparra Lab stands with our ʻohana in Maui who have experienced the most fatal fire disaster of modern US History. The Maui Strong Fund is providing financial resources that can be deployed quickly, with a focus on rapid response and recovery for the devastating wildfires on Maui. HCF will not be collecting a fee for donations to the Maui Strong Fund; 100 percent of the funds will be distributed for community needs.

Kekoa was featured in the September 2023 issue of Ka Wai Ola. "Taparra is a Native Hawaiian resident physician at Stanford Health Care, where he is training to care for patients diagnosed with various cancers. He is originally from Mililani and is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools."

On World Cancer Day 2024, Stanford Cancer Institute highlighted the review paper by Kai Akimoto and Kekoa in The Cancer Journal. The interview covers the barriers with access within the Pacific to innovative oncology clinical trials. Check out the interview.

Kekoa was invited to give a lecture on NHPI health and NHPI reporting practices to the Stanford Medicine Health Equity Fellows. Find more about the program here.

Kekoa was invited to speak as a panelist for the Junior Faculty/Early Career breakout session for the 2023 Stanford Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Research Training Program.

Kekoa was recently interviewed by the Stanford Report to discuss the importance of the Next Generation Faculty Symposium for early-career scientists transitioning into faculty positions.

Kekoa was invited to serve on a research panel at the 30th APAMSA National Conference in March 2024 Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV

Kekoa was invited to present as an invited speaker at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Excellence JEDI Seminar on February 27, 2024.