Professor
kbraun@hawaii.edu | (808) 956-5768 | Biomed D-202
Graduate Chair, PhD Public Health Program
PhD in Public Health (Community-Based and Translational Research)
Social and Behavioral Health Sciences
Academic Degrees
- DrPH (Health Services Evaluation), University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
- MPH, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
- BS, University of Michigan
Courses Taught
- PH 720 – Systematic Literature Review in Public Health (3)
- PH 742 – Qualitative Research for Public Health Sciences (3)
- PH 775 – Public Health Proposal and Dissertation Writing (3)
Dr. Kathryn L. Braun is Professor of Public Health and Social Work and Graduate Chair of the PhD in Community-Based and Translational Research in the Office of Public Health Studies. She is Principal Investigator of the federally funded Hā Kūpuna National Resource Center for Native Hawaiian Elders with the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health. She also is Co-Investigator on two NIH-funded programs. — Ola HAWAII Research Center in Minority Institutions and the Center for Pacific Innovations, Knowledge, and Opportunity — with the John A. Burns School of Medicine to support translational research to deduce health disparities.
Dr. Braun’s primary teaching responsibilities are in the doctoral program, teaching courses on systematic literature review, proposal writing, and qualitative methods. She is known for her work in community-based participatory research in cancer and gerontology, and she has published more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles on these topics. She is a fellow in the Gerontological Society of America and the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education.
Dr. Braun is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer, having served in the Philippines (Bontoc) in the 1970s. She also was a Fulbright Scholar in Busan, Korea. She serves as President of the Active Aging Consortium Asia Pacific, an international network of gerontologists across the Asia-Pacific region. She likes to travel and has visited all 7 continents and more than 120 countries.
Awards & Honors
Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Teaching, 1998
Peter V. Garrod Distinguished Graduate Mentoring Award, 2023
Selected Publications
Ibrao M, Burrage R, Muneoka, S, Kawakami KL, Tanji TT, Tanoue L, Braun KL. What Matters to older Native Hawaiians: A qualitative study of care preferences. Journal of Palliative Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2024.0332
Keli‘ipa‘akaua JK, Muneoka S, Braun KL Mai kāpae i ke aʻo a ka makua, aia he ola ma laila: Shifting power through Hawaiian language reclamation. Genealogy 2024, 28:118. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030118
Adamsen C, Wells Waabigekek V, Short-Azure M, Chlupach M, Roberson H, Braun KL. Resurgence of indigenous food traditions helps heal bodies and spirits. Generations Today. March-April 2024. https://generations.asaging.org/indigenous-foods-help-heal-bodies-and-spirits.
Ibrao M, Braun KL, Burrage R, Wu YY, Wen A, Masaki K. Age-friendly health systems and cultural relevancy: Exploring the geriatrics 4Ms model with Native Hawaiian elders. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society2024(1):1-3. DOI: 10.1111/jgs.18874.
Mokuau N, Yoshimoto SK, Braun KL. Ka māno wai (Source of water and life). University of Hawai‘i Press, 2023.
Lim EJ, Braun KL, Taira D. (eds.) Resources and methods for examining Native Hawaiian, Other Pacific Islander, and Filipino health disparities. Hawai‘i Journal of Health and Social Welfare, supplement. 2023;82(Suppl 1):1-120. https://hawaiijournalhealth.org/past_issues/HJHSW_Oct23_Suppl1.pdf
Burhansstipanov L, Braun, KL. (eds.) Indigenous Public Health: Improvement through Community-Engaged Interventions. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2022. https://www.amazon.com/Indigenous-Public-Health-Community-Engaged-Interventions/dp/0813195845
