Faculty

• Associate Professor
  Cancer Biology Program
  University of Hawaii Cancer Center

Degrees

• MD
  University of California, Irvine
• General Surgery Residency
  Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
• Transplant Fellowship, California-Pacific Medical Center

Research Focus

Dr. Wong is a liver transplant and hepatobiliary surgeon who founded and heads the only liver transplant program in the state of Hawaii. She is also currently building the state's only multidisciplinary hepatobiliary program, Dr. Wong has been participating in research activities related to liver disease and cancer for the past 17 years. She believes a better understanding of these diseases will allow for earlier detection, better treatment and ultimately prevention of liver cancer.

Viral hepatitis patients are those most prone to developing hepatobiliary cancers and Hawaii has the highest incidence of hepatobiliary cancer in the US. Through the clinical partnership with her surgery center, researchers have the unique opportunity to study viral carcinogenesis and potentially prevent cancer in the group with the highest risks.

Hawaii's high incidence of viral hepatitis is primarily due to immigrants from Asian and Pacific Island nations in which hepatitis B is endemic. There are also great racial disparities among Pacific Islanders in terms of treatment of both viral hepatitis and liver cancer. Dr. Wong is dedicated to solving hepatobiliary disease collaboratively, because she knows she and her colleagues can have the greatest impact on care for their patients by working together.

Publications

• Inouye DS, Kickertz K, Wong LL. Methamphetamine use in deceased donors impairs renal function in kidney recipients. Clinical Transplantation 2007;21:643-8 PMID: 17845640 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
• Hammill, Wong LL. Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma – A malignancy of increasing importance. Journal of the American College of Surgeons 2008;207:594-603. PMID: 18926465 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
• Wong DK, Lurie F, Wong LL. The Effects of Clopidogrel on Traumatic Brain Injured Patients. Journal of Trauma 2008; 65:1303-8. PMID: 19077618 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
• Ochner M, Wong LL, Wimmer-Kunitomo K. Hepatocellular cancer: risk factors and survival in Pacific Islanders compared to Caucasians, in Hawaii. Ethnicity and Disease 2010 20:169-173.

Publication list via PubMed

Active Grants

• L. Wong, Co-Investigator
  R01-DK 079684-01
  "Multimedia Intervention to Motivate Ethnic Minority Teens to be Designated Donors"
  National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institute of Health, Department of Health and Human Services
  July 7, 2007
• RFA DK 06-016, Minority Organ and Tissue Donation
  Funding: $750,000 (5 years)
• 3P30CA071789-12S6
  American Recovery and Reinvestment Act/NIH grant with the University of Hawaii Cancer Center to study Liver Cancer
  9/28/2009 to 9/27/2011
  Funding: $1,313,830.00