Meet the Healthy Hawai‘i Evaluation Team

Investigators

  • L. Brooke Keliikoa, Associate Specialist. Dr. Keli‘ikoa serves as the Principal Investigator and co-lead for the Healthy Hawai‘i Evaluation Team. Her evaluation work spans health promotion and chronic disease prevention topic areas, but she has a special interest in evaluating built environment interventions to promote walkability and evaluating the efforts of cross-sector community coalitions. She has over 15 years of evaluation experience with the Healthy Hawai‘i Evaluation Team.
  • Meghan McGurk, Junior Specialist. Serves as Co-Investigator of the Healthy Hawai‘i Evaluation Team and Principal Investigator of CDC 1815 and CDC 2109 projects. Her work focuses on the evaluation of statewide policy and systems-change efforts and nutrition interventions to reduce obesity and other chronic diseases. She has been part of the Healthy Hawai‘i Evaluation Team since 2013.

Project Managers

  • Becky Rodericks, Junior Specialist. Her evaluation work focuses primarily on school health and youth-related evaluation projects. She has worked closely with DOH to evaluate programs that promote physical activity, nutrition, and tobacco-free lifestyles. She also serves as Principal Investigator for the CDC 2001 tobacco evaluation project as well as a lead investigator for the Hawai‘i Health Data Warehouse. She has been an evaluator with the Healthy Hawai‘i Evaluation Team since 2010.
  • Ngoc D. Vu, Junior Specialist, joined the team in 2017, currently works on projects focusing on noncommunicable disease interventions. Her research interests extend into health administration and systems, to examine the issues and factors influencing the provision of healthcare in complex environments. She has also worked on international health initiatives in Asia.
  • Kara Saiki, Junior Specialist, joined the team in 2020, currently works on projects focusing on chronic diseases including diabetes and hypertension, advancing health literacy, and analyzes the trends of tobacco sales to minors. Her research interests include postpartum health and promoting healthy behaviors and lifestyle changes in different communities.
  • Sakiko Yasuda, Junior Specialist, joined the Healthy Hawaii Evaluation Team in 2022. Dr. Yasuda currently works on projects to build community resiliency through the training, deployment, and engagement of community health workers. Previously, she worked internationally and evaluated health-related programs in the Solomon Islands, Thailand, and Japan.
  • Whitney Watts, Junior Specialist, joined the team in 2023. She currently works on projects focusing on primary prevention related to physical activity, nutrition, and tobacco prevention. Her research interests center around improving opportunities for physical activity in communities, specifically policy and built environment interventions to promote multimodal and active mobility.