Neal A. Palafox, M.D., M.P.H. is Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health and the B.H. and the Alice C. Beams Endowed Professor in Cancer Research at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawai’i, and an adjunct Professor of Cancer Prevention and Control at the University of Hawai’i Cancer Center (UHCC). His focus has been on reducing health disparities in the populations of Hawai’i and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Island (USAPI) jurisdictions of American Samoa, Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau. The work has involved health / health care capacity building through workforce development, systems-based development utilizing a community-based participatory approach, establishing a Regional Pacific Population Based Cancer Registry, establishing the Cancer Council of the Pacific Islands (CCPI), and developing a Pacific Regional Cancer Prevention and Control Network.
Dr. Palafox is a MPI of the NCI PACHE U54 Partnership Grant between the UHCC and University of Guam, NIGMS IDeA CTR for Hawai’i, CDC Racial & Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) grant for the USAPI, and the CDC PIACe Cervical Cancer Control in the USAPI. He has research and scholarship interests in health effects of US nuclear testing in the Pacific, cultural competency, health equity, vitamin A deficiency in the Pacific, and ciguatera. He is a founding member of the International Cancer Control Partnership (ICCP).
