The John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) at the University of Hawaiʻi (UH) developed a multidisciplinary Hawai’i-based Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) in Diabetes. This Diabetes Research Center (DRC) initially spanned departments but now also crosses campus borders to promote research aimed at improving the metabolic health of the people of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific region. The DRC builds upon the strengths of Hawaiʻi’s spirit of collaboration, intrinsic ethnic and cultural diversity, and existing strengths in diabetes research. The work of our Center leverages Hawaiʻi’s research capacity to link basic science mechanisms that underlie diabetes and to advance the science through translational research.