Summer interns build their research skills in University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center’s CREATE program

Students from Hawaiʻi and Guam receive hands-on training and education from leading cancer researchers and scientists

July 25, 2025

Twenty-six college students from across Hawai‘i as well as Guam are wrapping up an 8-week intensive, hands-on summer research experience at the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center in Kaka‘ako.

The Cancer Research Education, Advancement, Training and Empowerment (CREATE) program offers the interns a multi-disciplinary curriculum, workshops, symposiums and career development sessions.

The CREATE program is for undergraduate students residing in the islands of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific who are interested in science and medical careers. They were paired with nearly 30 faculty mentors from the UH Cancer Center’s Cancer Biology program and Cancer Prevention in the Pacific programs.

The CREATE program provides unique research opportunities arising from the distinctive population and environment in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific, with strong multidisciplinary collaborations at the University of Hawaiʻi and with the University of Guam. Research training projects include projects focused on addressing cancer-related topics important for understanding differences in risk and mortality across our multiethnic populations in the Pacific, and laboratory projects focused on the study of natural compounds found nowhere else in the world, to identify new cancer drugs for treatment.

Reyson Ramos, a UH Mānoa student from Waipahu, said building his research skills as a CREATE intern has galvanized his intention to serve his home state. “The main goal at the end, after I've done all my education, my training, is to come back to Hawaiʻi and really provide answers to the community that has really taken care of me for all of my life,” he said.

“Our interns spend about two months here at the UH Cancer Center, to do mentored research in cancer biology or population sciences,” said Kathleen Plaza, Manager of Cancer Research Training at the UH Cancer Center. “We’re training home grown scientists and researchers that will hopefully come back, and give back to the communities that raise them.”

The CREATE program is open to Hawaiʻi or Guam residents who are sophomores or juniors enrolled in an accredited college or university, interested in cancer research, and able to commit to a full-time schedule during the summer (8 weeks, at 40 hours per week).

For more information, go to the training opportunities for undergraduate students page.