Junior Specialist
knsaiki@hawaii.edu | (808) 956-5505 | Biomed D-210
Academic Degrees
- MPH (Health Promotion), University of Southern California
- BS (Health Promotion and Disease Prevention), University of Southern California
Kara Saiki is a project manager on the Healthy Hawai‘i Evaluation Team (HHET), focusing her evaluation research on chronic diseases including diabetes, hypertension, and asthma among communities who are disproportionately affected by these diseases. She also serves as the principal investigator for three federal and state projects conducting statewide underage tobacco sale compliance checks ensuring that retail establishments are compliant with federal and state underage tobacco sales laws, in coordination with the Hawai‘i State Department of Health – Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division.
Her previous research interests include utilizing motivational interviewing strategies in postpartum health and promoting healthy behaviors and lifestyle changes in different communities, as well as advancing health literacy.
Selected Publications
Saiki, K., Shalaby, A., Nett, B., Ching, L., Domingo, J.L.B., Valera, J.D., Randall, R., Keliikoa, L.B., & McGurk, M.D. (2024). Recruitment and Retention in the National Diabetes Prevention Program Lifestyle Change Program in Two Federally Qualified Health Centers in Rural Hawaiʻi. Preventing Chronic Disease, 21: 240156. http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd21.240156
Upreti, R., Saiki, K., Abrams, M.A., Jones, A., Melendez, K., Chevrolet, J., Pennington, H., Leadingham, A., Martin, D., & Sentell, T.L. (2023). Building community health literacy to achieve health equity: Insights from an Ethiopian Tewahedo Social Services community leader in a county-level health literacy initiative. Health Equity, 7:1, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1089/heq.2023.0069
Pirkle, C.M., Saiki, K., Yamauchi, J., Irvin, L.H. (2021). Advancing Health Equity in Hawai‘i: Critical Reflections on COVID-19, Chronic Conditions, and Health Disparities. Hawai‘i Journal of Health and Social Welfare, 80 (10 suppl 2), 3-5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8538109/
