The University of Hawaii has chosen a renowned colon cancer expert who oversees cancer care for a network of hospitals in New York City to lead the financially struggling UH Cancer Center — a move that outside groups have suggested could help stabilize and strengthen the research center.

UH is recommending Dr. Randall F. Holcombe, one of four finalists announced in March, as director of the Cancer Center at a proposed $410,004 annual salary. If approved by the Board of Regents at its monthly meeting Thursday, the appointment would be effective Sept. 1.

Former director Michele Carbone, who resigned in November 2014 after five years in the post, was paid $412,008 as director. Dr. Jerris Hedges, dean of the John A. Burns School of Medicine, has been serving as interim director.

Holcombe is chief medical officer for cancer for Mount Sinai Health System, which runs seven hospital campuses in the New York area.

He joined Mount Sinai in September 2010 and took on several roles. Within the organization, Holcombe also serves as deputy director for the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai, director of the Derald H. Ruttenberg Treatment Center and director of ambulatory oncology at The Mount Sinai Hospital. He also is a professor of medicine in the Hematology and Medical Oncology Division at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

UH said Holcombe would not be available for comment until after the regents vote on his appointment.

“We are happy to be able to present such an outstanding candidate to the Board of Regents, a candidate who sees the great value of the UH Cancer Center in Hawaii and wants to continue its mission of reducing the burden of cancer in our communities through research, education and improved patient care,” Michael Bruno, UH Manoa’s vice chancellor for research, said in a statement.

Broad experience noted

The UH Cancer Center is one of 69 federally designated National Cancer Institute centers, giving UH an edge when competing for federal funds and recruiting scientists. As much as 80 percent of the NCI’s $5.2 billion annual research budget goes to its designated cancer centers.

“He can be instrumental in our efforts to keep the UH Cancer Center NCI-designated, a distinction that only 69 out of more than 1,600 cancer centers in the U.S. have,” Hedges said in a statement.

In announcing his 2010 hiring, Mount Sinai praised Holcombe as a leading authority in colon cancer and other gastrointestinal malignancies, noting his broad experience ranging from basic science and translational research to clinical trials and patient care.

He received his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in 1983. (The school has since become Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.) He then worked at Louisiana State University School of Medicine as an assistant professor of medicine before joining the University of California-Irvine Medical Center in 1998, where he held roles including chief of the Hematology/Oncology Division, director of the Office of Clinical Research and Trials, and associate vice chancellor for research.

If hired, Holcombe would be joining UH at a time when university officials and lawmakers continue to clash over the future of the Cancer Center, which has been overspending revenues by $7.5 million to $9.5 million a year and burning through its reserve funds to stay afloat. The center is expected to deplete its reserves by fiscal 2018.

Funding request denied

Lawmakers rejected the university’s request for an additional $5 million for operations for next fiscal year, citing the lack of a sustainable business plan.

“If you’re going to ask the state to kick in additional funds, we have to know what Manoa, what UH is going to also be giving to contribute to the sustainability of the Cancer Center,” state Sen. Jill Tokuda (D, Kailua-Kaneohe), chairwoman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, told university officials at a budget briefing in January. “It’s not to say we don’t believe in it. We have believed in this from Day One. But what we have been asking for from Day One is a sustainability plan, and we have yet to receive this … and so far, you’ve just been giving us excuses, as far as I can see. So far, I’ve just watched you folks whittle down your reserves year after year after year.”

A 2015 assessment report prepared for UH by Warbird Consulting Partners and Navigant Consulting Inc. recommended the university make it a priority to recruit a permanent director.

“Leadership at UHCC has been a problem,” the report said. “The NCI expects a director who has clear authority over and accountability for the highest and best use of the cancer research enterprise. To contribute to its potential as a cancer research center, UHCC needs such a directorship.”

Business plan was faulty

The center’s financial troubles can be traced to a faulty business plan that had assumed the university’s share of the state’s cigarette tax would remain constant at $19 million per year. But as fewer people smoke, the tax revenues have dropped to about $14 million a year since 2010.

Turmoil surrounding the center’s previous leadership and the negative publicity that ensued also affected philanthropy and recruitment of researchers.

Adding to the problem, UH in 2010 pursued building a $130 million facility for the Cancer Center in Kakaako using that outdated business plan. To pay for it, the state issued revenue bonds, which have burdened the center with an $8 million annual mortgage payment it can’t afford.

UH has commissioned at least three business plans in recent years to try to turn around the center’s finances. The latest report recommended short-term steps to maximize revenue and productivity, including proposals to consolidate the medical school and the cancer center’s administrative services to reduce duplicated services, generate revenue by leasing empty space in the center and require newly recruited faculty to cover a portion of their salaries with grants.

Although the regents haven’t taken formal action on any recommendations, the board in April unanimously passed a resolution acknowledging the worth of the Cancer Center and its federal National Cancer Institute designation for the state and region.