The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be opening an office at the University of Hawai'i John A. Burns School of Medicine under a partnership announced yesterday.

The CDC will base a senior management official at the medical school to strengthen efforts to combat infectious diseases and other public health threats in Hawai'i and the Pacific. The deal was announced by U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, who applauded the partnership.

"This action demonstrates the commitment of Dr. Julie Gerberding, the CDC director, to push forward with disease detection for the entire Asia-Pacific region," Inouye said. "It is also an acknowledgment that Hawai'i is ideally situated for this effort."

The official will also manage the CDC's Hawai'i "portfolio," which includes projects, grants and programs funded by the federal agency, said Morgan Barrett, deputy director of the state Department of Health's Health Resources Administration.

Barrett said about a dozen states have senior management officials who are based within the states' departments of health, but the CDC decided to place the official in the medical school because of the broader area of responsibility.

"The difference in Hawai'i is we have some unique challenges by virtue of being in the Pacific and having a greater number or Pacific and Asian migrants and visitors," Barrett said. "So the (senior management official) here will probably work more closely with not only Pacific jurisdictions, but the divisions of the department that are charged with dealing with infectious diseases that are indigenous to Asian countries in the Pacific, and those are tuberculosis, Hansen's disease and sexually transmitted infections."

Duane Gubler, chair of Asia-Pacific Institute of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the medical school, spearheaded the effort to get the CDC to move to the school.

Gubler was out of town yesterday and could not be reached for comment, but the school said Gubler is scheduled to meet with the Atlanta-based CDC this month to finalize the arrangements for the office.

Gubler had argued for a top-notch lab at the school because of the potential for infectious diseases to be introduced into Hawai'i.

He had said the CDC could help with resources to make it a world-class lab.

Gary Ostrander, interim dean and vice chancellor for Research and Graduate Education at UH, said the partnership will "allow the CDC and the school of medicine to strengthen and protect public health in Hawai'i and the Pacific."

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.