Queen's doctor studying melanoma ethnic disparity

HONOLULU (AP) — The Queen's Medical Center says one of its surgeons plans to begin a first-of-its-kind study on how melanoma affects people of different ethnicities

Dr. Shane Morita said in a statement Tuesday a three-year award from the North Central Cancer Treatment Group will fund the research.

The surgical oncologist says he treated a significant number of non-Caucasian patients with melanoma in Hawaii over the past two years. The disease is seen predominantly in Caucasians, but Morita found during a review of Hawaii Tumor Registry data that non-Caucasians with melanoma die at disproportionate rates.

The project is the first to investigate ethnic disparity in melanoma.

The North Central Cancer Treatment Group is a clinical research group based at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. It's sponsored by the National Cancer Institute.