It’s been more than two and half decades since the federal government broke out Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians as a separate group from Asian Americans. In the field of medicine, it has shed light on hidden figures that have masked health disparities and outcomes of a key cross-section of our population.
Skin cancer or melanoma is one area that at first glance tells a different story than what you may believe.
Ryan Shontell and Kaʻeo Kekumano both have a family history of cancer. Shontell is a second-year medical student at the University of Hawaiʻi, and Kekumano just graduated from Harvard and is in the process of applying to JABSOM.
Shontell and Kekumano have been involved in a study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open about racial disparities in cancer diagnoses among young adults. HPR talked to them to learn more.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Sept. 24, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
