The Kauai Skin Cancer Study--1983 to 1992

The Kauai Skin Cancer Study began as a modest effort in 1983 to look at this island's skin cancer incidence. David Elpern MD, Kauai's only dermatologist at the time, was interested in the large number of these tumors in his practice. He first enlisted his office staff to help keep track of the numbers and type of these skin cancers. Along with this information, the basic demographic data on each patient was collected. These records became the first entries into what has become a decade-long project.