UH celebrates fourth year of record federal funding

Hawaii officials Wednesday celebrated the University of Hawaii’s fourth consecutive year of record- setting external funding, which they said keeps UH as the primary source of cancer research in the Pacific and provides high-skilled job opportunities for bright students who want to pursue medical careers in the islands.

U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda told a gathering at UH’s Cancer Center on Wednesday that UH’s record $734 million in external funding — most of it from the federal government — means more career paths for local students like her who grew up believing their only hope for a prosperous, challenging career meant pursuing their dreams on the mainland.

Instead, Tokuda — then a 14-year-old student at Kaneohe’s Castle High School — rode TheBus to UH’s then-dilapidated medical school and kn