James W. Davis, PhD, attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he obtained his PhD Immunology. He subsequently attended the University of Washington and received a Master's in Science in Epidemiology. Today, James Davis, PhD is the Senior Epidemiologist at the Clinical Research Center and, Research Analyst, Care Management at Hawaii Medical Service Association. Dr. Davis is also a faculty at the University of Hawaii, Masters in Clinical Research, John A. Burns School of Medicine. In addition he continues to offer Koko'okolu Fellowship Program his support, knowledge and skills as a Mentor to the Fellows.

Discipline: Quantitative research methodology, bio statistics, data analysis and interpretation.

Nina L. Etkin, PhD, earned the PhD in Anthropology from Washington University-St. Louis, and is currently Professor of Medical Anthropology at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa; Professor, Department of Ecology and Health, UH Medical School; and Research Associate of the Cancer Research Center of Hawai'i. Professor Etkin's research in Hawaii and West Africa is framed by a biocultural perspective that links culture, physiology, and the substance and sign of medicines to understand the dialectic of culture and nature in diverse ethnographic and ecologic settings. She serves the Koko'okolu Fellowship as a Mentor.

Discipline: Community and cultural issues related to research project, qualitative research methodology and interpretation.

Elizabeth C. McFarlane, PhD, MPH, is an Educational Psychologist and is currently the Assistant Director of Early Childhood Research for Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine – Hawaii Projects.  She directs several studies in Hawaii addressing issues of risk and prevention in early childhood.  Her research in Hawaii includes collaborative efforts with the American Academy of Pediatrics – Hawaii Chapter, the Hawaii Departments of Health and Education, Kamehameha Schools and the Koko'okolu Fellowship Program.  Dr. McFarlane’s previous work focused on health disparities research in the international health arena.  She has lived and worked in ten different countries on four different continents. Her work included child health and development monitoring with the Ministry of Health in Raratonga, Cook Islands, family planning initiatives in rural Australia, and immunization projects in Central America.  In all settings emphasis was placed on service integration through inter-professional and agency partnerships, systems change, and community participation.

Discipline: Early child education, preventive interventions for CAN, longitudinal community-based research.

Charles R. Neal, Jr., MD, PhD is a pediatrician specializing in neonatal-perinatal medicine. His primary neuroanatomical studies have centered on opioid and adrenocorticoid neurochemical systems in adult animals, and during development, with special emphasis on the LHPA axis. His neuroanatomical studies on adrenocorticoid and opioid receptor systems have focused on their ontogeny in developing rat and human LHPA axis. In addition, he has also characterized the CNS distribution of a novel neuropeptide system, orphanin FQ and its opioid-like receptor, ORL1, demonstrating the expression of the orphanin system throughout the LHPA axis in adult rat, and in developing rat and human brain. More recently, he has developed a rat model to study effects of neonatal dexamethasone exposure on development of the LHPA axis, with emphasis on expression of mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptors, corticotropin releasing hormone and the ORL1 receptor. These studies have fueled clinical interests regarding 1) the effects of stress, pain and prolonged steroid use on long-term neurodevelopment of extremely low birth weight infants, and 2) the effects of early (fetal) stress on development of the LHPA axis in term infants, in the context of maternal depression. Dr. Neal’s clinical, neuroanatomical and behavioral expertise in this area allows him to move sinuously between research using animal models, and queries regarding effects of early life stressors in the human condition within his practice of neonatal medicine.

Discipline: Neonatology, Neurodevelopment of stress.

Alice M. Tse, PhD, APRN, received her PhD degree in 1991 from University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Tse is presently an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Nursing, at the University of Hawaii Manoa, School of Medicine and Associate Director for the MCH LEND Training Grant. Dr. Tse , Principal Investigator of the Koko'okolu Project: Joint Community Oriented Participatory Research (COPR). In addition she continues to be involved with the fellows as a Mentor in the Koko'okolu Project: Fellowship in Community Pediatrics Program.

Discipline: Development of community networks, community-based research plans, qualitative research methodology and interpretation.

Chien-Wen Tseng, MD, MPH is a family physician and health services researcher.  She holds a joint position as a physician investigator at the Pacific Health Research Institute (PHRI) and is also an Associate Professor and the Associate Director of Research with the University of Hawaii John A. Burns Department of Family Practice and Community Health.  Dr. Tseng’s main interest is in the redesign of the health system to provide quality care at affordable cost. Her current research is on quality of care, Medicare drug benefits, and on how to make medications more affordable for patients.  She is nationally recognized for her work on Medicare drug benefits and her work has been published multiple times in top-notch medical journals such as the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA).  Her studies include helping physicians prescribe cost-effectively and she is the principal investigator on a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant.  She is also a co-investigator on the Translating Research Into Action for Diabetes study (TRIAD), a multi-site national study that collaborates with investigators from UCLA, UCSF, Univ. of Michigan, UMDNJ, Univ. of Indiana, and Kaiser N. California. The study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and National Institute of Health to examine quality of care for people with diabetes, and Dr. Tseng’s focus is on the negative impact of cost on adherence to diabetes treatment.

Discipline: Health services research.