University of Hawaii at Manoa Chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman has initiated the search for a permanent director for the financially struggling UH Cancer Center.

The announcement last week came a year after the center’s former director, Michele Carbone, stepped down amid growing fiscal concerns.

UH earlier this year hired a mainland consultant to assess the situation and develop a business plan for the center, which has been overspending revenues by $7.5 million to $9.5 million a year and burning through its reserves.

Some members of the university’s Board of Regents said it would be premature to start a search before receiving the business report, expected by January.

UH said a 10-member search advisory committee will begin reviewing applications on Dec. 30. The committee will recommend finalists to the chancellor, who will make a recommendation to UH President David Lassner.

"This is a critical position for not only the Cancer Center, but the state of Hawaii," Bley-Vroman said in a statement. "We are looking for a strong and respected leader to help the various components of the Cancer Center to unite around a shared vision and mission. We look forward to a successful search for someone to lead the Cancer Center to reduce the burden of cancer through research, education, clinical trials and patient care with an emphasis on the unique ethnic, cultural and environmental characteristics of Hawaii and the Pacific."

The job posting for the position does not list a salary range. Carbone, who was hired in 2009, earned $412,000 a year as director.

The center’s money troubles stem from a faulty business plan that assumed UH’s share of the state’s cigarette tax would remain steady at roughly $20 million a year to fund operations. But as fewer people smoke, revenues have dropped off.

Under Carbone’s leadership, the center built a $100 million state-of-the-art facility in Kakaako using that business plan, leaving the center with an $8 million annual mortgage payment it can’t afford.

The center has narrowed its operating deficit this year to a projected $5 million shortfall under Dr. Jerris Hedges, dean of the John A. Burns School of Medicine, who has been serving as interim director.

He’s trimmed costs by consolidating some of the functions of the medical school and the Cancer Center, and by halting recruitment.

UH officials have hinted that legislative support for the upcoming fiscal year may come in the form of proposals for a larger share of the cigarette tax or a new tax on e-cigarettes.

The search committee members are:

>> Margaret McFall-Ngai, director of the Pacific Biosciences Research Center, chairwoman

>> Christian Dye, graduate student (Kualii Council representative)

>> Wei Jia, UH Cancer Center researcher

>> Loic Le Marchand, UH Cancer Center researcher

>> Diane Ono, attorney (alumni/community member representative)

>> Charles Rosser, UH Cancer Center researcher

>> Sharon Shigemasa, UH Cancer Center publication specialist, (Hawaii Government Employees Association representative)

>> James Turkson, UH Cancer Center researcher

>> Stuart Watson, graduate student (Graduate Student Organization representative)

>> Lynne Wilkens, UH Cancer Center specialist.