Carbone deal suffices for now

The University of Hawaii has implemented a complex — and costly — plan for solving the current upheaval at the UH Cancer Center through an organizational restructuring that carves up the powers of its embattled director, Dr. Michele Carbone.

Given its record for installing well-paid administrators and support staff in dubious jobs over the past few years, there’s good reason for some of the criticism that the plan serves as an expensive Band-Aid rather than a cure. Neither the group that wanted the director gone or those who supported him can feel satisfied with this.

However, the best course doesn’t always end with a single, surgical action, and assuming that the UH Board of Regents reevaluates the performance of its Cancer Center administrators in the near future, this strategy deserves a chance to work.

Evidently the consensus among the UH regents and other top brass is that Carbone earns his keep in the critical role of bringing in research grants; two previous moves by UH-Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple to terminate Carbone were rebuffed. The coming months of oversight should show who was right, and wheth-er the new structure is cost-effective.

The reorganization lets Carbone keep his job but places him under Brian Taylor, the interim vice chancellor for research.

Virginia Hinshaw, the former UH-Manoa chancellor who hired Carbone, has been named senior adviser to Carbone and Taylor.

Also reporting to Taylor will be a new hire, Patricia Blanchette, as the center’s chief operating officer and associate director for administration. The success of this division of labor is anything but guaranteed; even with all the oversight, Blanchette needs the authority to make many of the decisions without second-guessing at every turn. Plainly, the hope is that she has the managerial skills to create a less rancorous working environment.

UH also hoped to calm the waters by taking steps that stopped short of a disruptive firing. In most other divisions of the university, a simple changing of the guard would have been cleaner, but the still-developing cancer center is a monumental investment the state doesn’t want to lose. Either continuing what was described as "interpersonal drama" or forcing a prolonged search for a successor could have damaged the center’s reputation beyond repair, putting more potential grant applications at risk.

If the complaint from his critics was that Carbone was too autocratic, a switch to a more team-based management structure makes sense, at least in theory. If it works in practice, those with grievances will feel they have recourse.

The bottom line is that Hawaii needs a well-functioning Cancer Center, which now attracts $30 million annually in federal research grants. As outlined in a statement from David Lassner, the university’s interim president, it’s the only cancer center credentialed by the National Cancer Institute "within 2,500 miles of Hawaii’s cancer patients, hospitals and practitioners." It serves the population beyond our shores as well, throughout the Pacific Basin.

Time will tell whether those entrusted with its future will fulfill promises to keep this asset healthy — and help keep island residents healthy, too.