Executive Director

Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

Email: emic@pihoa.org

Ms. Emi Chutaro has been the Executive Director for PIHOA since 2013. She is from the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and has worked in the Pacific region as a global health and education professional for the past 20 years. Prior to PIHOA, Ms. Chutaro worked for the Public Health Division of the Secretariat for the Pacific Community, the Behavior Change Communication Officer based in New Caledonia, and later as the Grants Coordinator for the Pacific Response Fund for HIV and Other STIs and Global Fund for HIV and TB based in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia. Ms. Chutaro has worked across the Pacific region in twelve Pacific island countries and territories in grants/project management, non-profit institutional strengthening, community health, health promotion, adolescent reproductive health, and health and education policy. She has worked extensively with several international development agencies such as the WHO, UNDP, UNICEF, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Australia Aid Program, New Zealand Aid Program, and other development INGOs. Other former positions included: Instructor at the College of the Marshall Islands, Grants Director for the RMI Ministry of Education, Country Program Manager for the United Nations Development Program under the RMI Office of the President’s Economic Policy, Planning and Statistics Office, and Chair of the RMI Ministry of Health Institutional Review Board. Ms. Chutaro is a long-time volunteer program development/grants-writer for Youth in Health, Inc., a local RMI adolescent reproductive health NGO, and was co-Vice President for the Marshall Island Council of NGOs. She holds a Master of Science in Social Policy and Planning in Developing Countries (Health and Education) from the London School of Economics in the UK, and a Bachelor of Arts in French and International Politics (Conflict Resolution) from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. Ms. Chutaro has also studied in Avignon, France and conducted social policy research in Druban, KwaZulu Natal in South Africa.

Deputy Director of Programs and Operations

Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

Email: janetc@pihoa.org

Ms. Janet Camacho is the Deputy Director of Programs and Operations for the PIHOA Secretariat Staff. She is from the island of Guam and has worked in Honolulu for 25 years as a health professional serving in several roles with major health care organizations. Ms. Camacho has a diverse management background with extensive training in leadership, strategic planning, quality and patient safety, health care operations, and program development. She has held director positions in quality and patient safety and clinical analytics, and for the past seven years. Ms. Camacho has had accountability for various regulatory quality reporting programs including, NCQA PCMH Designation, NCQA Accreditation and HEDIS quality reporting, Meaningful Use of EHR, CMS Medicare Stars, Merit Based Incentive Program (MIPS), and Comprehensive Primary Care Plus programs under the CMS Quality Payment Program. Ms. Camacho has a Master’s Degree in Nursing and Public Health with a focus on health outcomes of special populations and maternal and child health from the University of Hawaii at Manoa Schools of Nursing and Public Health, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from Marquette University in Wisconsin.

Regional Laboratory Strengthening Coordinator

Location: Guam

Email: vasitiu@pihoa.org

Dr. Vasiti Uluiviti has been with PIHOA since 2005 and is based at the Guam Public Health Laboratory.  She manages PIHOA’s regional laboratory initiative and offers technical assistance and consultancy to hospital and public health laboratories for the USAPIs and to reference laboratories in Guam, Hawaii and sometimes the Pacific Community (SPC) in Fiji.  Dr. Uluiviti once provided laboratory consultancy for the American Society of Microbiology to develop a parasitology curriculum for the Diploma in Medical Laboratory Sciences program at the Kenya Medical Training College in Mombasa, Kenya.  She also provides lab-related training including shipping of dangerous goods, quality assurance, laboratory quality management systems, strengthening lab management towards accreditation and other needed technical support to clinical, public health and reference laboratories in the USAPI. Dr. Uluiviti holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Microbiology/Biochemistry), Master of Medical Science (Pathology) and is Board certified with the American Society of Clinical Pathology as Technologist Microbiology. She is a Pacific Islander from Fiji, who just completed her doctoral studies in microbiology in 2020.

Pacific Basin Primary Care Office Coordinator

Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

Email: angiet@pihoa.org

Dr. Angela Techur-Pedro is a Medical Officer who graduated from the Pacific Basin Medical Officers Training Program in Pohnpei, FSM in 1994. She practiced in Palau and American Samoa for six years. In 2001, she emigrated to Honolulu, Hawaii.  Her educational background includes DCHSM (1994, UH PBMOTP), MPH (2003,UH), MA in Medical Sociology (2010, UH) and PhD in Epidemiology (2015, UH).  Dr. Techur-Pedro is currently the regional coordinator of the PIHOA Pacific Basin Primary Care Office (PCO).  Her role is to provide technical support to the USAPIs for HPSA/MUA designations to qualify for financial and human resources to address the chronic health professionals shortages and barriers to quality primary care services across the USAPIs.  Dr. Techur-Pedro also works in collaboration with USAPI health sectors, regional, and federal partners to support training opportunities for strengthening health workforce capacity using evidence-based best practices in monitoring maternal and child obesity in the USAPIs.

Finance Officer

Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

Email: elisad@pihoa.org 

Mrs. Elisa Dunlap serves as PIHOA’s Finance Officer and has been with PIHOA since 2016. She is responsible for PIHOA’s overall accounting and fiscal functions, reporting of all federal funds, and overseeing PIHOA’s fiscal/administrative staff. Ms. Dunlap has over 20 years of accounting experience, of which 10 of those years were working for the Washington State Department of Early Learning in the accounting department. In her last two years, she helped support the IT Help Desk where she acquired knowledge about networking and computers. Mrs. Dunlap was born in Mexico City and moved to the U.S. to attend college in Texas. Her first language is Spanish. She holds a Bachelors of Arts in Accounting and Business minor from Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington.

Office and Human Resources Administrator

Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

Email: regiet@pihoa.org

Mr. Regie Tolentino has been with PIHOA since 2011 providing overall administrative support to the organization and its members; he is responsible for coordinating meetings and conference calls; assisting with procurement, human resources, accounting and finance; and coordinating travel requests for PIHOA staff, board members, and consultants. Mr. Tolentino is also a native of the island of Maui and an Air Force Veteran, with experience in event planning, office management, and logistics.

Communications Officer

Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

Email: billieh@pihoa.org

Ms. Billie Hiraishi has been with PIHOA since 2013 and serves as the Communications Officer.  She is responsible for conveying all external messages on behalf of PIHOA via newsletters, email blasts, press releases, annual reports, brochures, etc. Ms. Hiraishi also manages and updates the PIHOA website and Facebook page. She provides assistance in health communications and risk communications throughout the USAPIs. Ms. Hiraishi also works closely with the PIHOA administrative team providing support with travel logistics, event planning, and accounting. Ms. Hiraishi is a Pacific Islander, born and raised in Hilo on the Big Island of Hawai'i and fluent in the Hawaiian Language. She has a bachelor’s degree in Communications with a minor in Business Administration and a master’s degree in Communications with an emphasis in intercultural communications. Ms. Hiraishi has work experience in event planning, public relations, marketing, and management. Outside of PIHOA, she is an assistant coach for the Punahou Girls Varsity Soccer Team.

Accountant

Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

Email: christopherr@pihoa.org  

Biography coming soon.

Pacific Islands Public Health Training Center Coordinator

Location: Pohnpei, FSM

Email: epidemiology.doc@gmail.com

Dr. Brian P. Mangum is the Coordinator for the PIHOA Pacific Islands Public Health Training Center (PIPHTC), which is part of the larger Western Region Public Health Training Center (WRPHTC) housed at the University of Arizona’s Zuckerman College of Public Health (UAZ). He is a consultant medical epidemiologist with over fifteen years of experience in international health as a consultant, public health practitioner, researcher, and professor in the Asia-Pacific region, the Caribbean and Latin America, and North America. Dr. Mangum is an active researcher, and is published in the areas of social epidemiology, including the impact of socioeconomic status on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases in island settings; the genetic epidemiology and control of neglected tropical diseases, such as leptospirosis; the provision of mental health services in resource-limited environments; and the role of culture in the medical anthropology of disease patterns. He is a past associate professor and associate dean of medicine for Xavier University School of Medicine, where he also served as a medical epidemiology consultant to the government of Aruba; past associate professor and chair of epidemiology and biostatistics at Fiji National University(FNU), where he served as a consultant medical epidemiologist to a range of organizations in the Pacific; and former associate professor with the University of Hawaii at Manoa, John A. Burns School of Medicine (UH-JABSOM) Area Health Education Center (AHEC) where he helped develop and direct the Doctors and Dentist for Tomorrow (DDFT) program which prepares Micronesian youth to enter medical school in Fiji. Dr. Mangum is passionate about the role of education in improving the lives of the Pacific islands. 

Regional NCD Program Support Officer

Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

Email: dioreme@hawaii.edu

Ms. Dioreme Amor Navasca is the PIHOA Regional NCD Program Support Officer. She provides program and administrative support to three (3) key regional programs/initiatives: 1) Strengthening Health Initiatives in the Pacific (SHIP)/Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) 2) Regional NCD Surveillance Framework systems strengthening and capacity-building initiative and 3) Regional NCD Emergency Crisis Response.  Ms. Navasca is also the Pacific Cancer Program Coordinator at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine (UH-JABSOM). She is originally from Cebu, Philippines and earned her Master's in Public Health Degree in 2014 specializing in Public Health Policy and Management at the University of Hawaii-Manoa (UH Manoa).

Regional NCD Epidemiologist for the USAPIs

Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

Email: haleyc@pihoa.org

Dr. Haley Cash works closely with PIHOA as the NCD Regional Epidemiologist for the USAPI under the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She provides epidemiological support to the USAPIs and is responsible for supporting chronic disease surveillance and epidemiological capacity in the region. Dr. Cash is the former epidemiologist for the Republic of Palau Ministry of Health. She is originally from Rhode Island and completed her graduate studies at Brown University.

Regional Public Health Advisor, Grants Management - USAPI Communicable Disease Programs

Location: Guam

Email: josephd@pihoa.org

Mr. Joseph Davis-Fleming has joined PIHOA as Regional Public Health Advisor for Grants Management Support to Federally-Funded Communicable Disease Programs in the US-Affiliated Pacific Islands. He officially started with PIHOA on October 1, 2019, and is based at the PIHOA Guam office. Mr. Davis-Fleming had a deep desire to return to the Pacific and contribute his extensive skills and knowledge for the improvement of the health outcomes of the people in the USAPI. Mr. Davis-Fleming brings extensive experience in healthcare governance, strategic planning, budgeting, and financial management, grants administration, performance monitoring and evaluation, operations and workforce development in the US (including Alaska, Texas and American Samoa), Asia, Africa, Central America, and the Caribbean. His prior positions included administrative oversight in a capacity-building and healthcare strengthening environment, as well as expansion planning and development of new facilities, services, programs, and local workforce. While in American Samoa, Mr. Davis-Fleming was the Chief Executive Officer for the LBJ Tropical Medical Center and participated in numerous PIHOA Meetings as a PIHOA Associate Member. In addition, he has over 25 years of executive management and regulatory compliance of federal & state government-based safety, quality, information systems, workforce standards, systems strengthening and legislative advocacy. Within those years of healthcare leadership experience, Mr. Davis-Fleming has produced at a high level and performed expectations that came with such tremendous responsibilities. Additionally, he has partnered in establishing joint capacity-building, sustainable hospital-based systems and workforce strengthening activities with US military medical personnel and international NGOs, and previously served as adjunct faculty with Yale School of Public Health/Global Health Institute.  Mr. Davis-Fleming holds a Masters of Science in Healthcare Administration, a post-graduate certificate in Public Health, Fellow designation in the Healthcare Financial Management Association, and is a Lifetime Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Regional Medical Entomologist

Location: Guam 

Email: limbh@pihoa.org 

Dr. Limb Hapairai was born and raised in Tahiti-French Polynesia and received both his bachelors and masters degree from Brigham Young University (BYU) focusing on conservation of fly biodiversity of isolated islands of French Polynesia. During his doctoral studies at University of Oxford, he developed a Wolbachia–based mosquito control against lymphatic filariasis vector Aedes polynesiensis in collaboration with the medical entomology team at Institut Louis Malardé. Dr. Hapairai continued with his training, as an Endeavour Australian Postdoctoral Award recipient, at Queensland University of Technology to study the insecticide resistance genes in arbovirus vector Aedes aegpyti and the evolution of the Dengue virus. He then joined the Eck Institute of Global Health-University of Notre Dame to develop novel pesticides against mosquito arbovirus vectors both in lab conditions and field conditions. In early 2020, Dr. Hapairai joined PIHOA as the Regional Medical Entomologist for the USAPIs, bringing his professional and pacific-island life experiences to build regional capacities for mosquito surveillance and control.

Hilton Prize Coalition and Global Health Task Force Fellow - Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Project

Location: American Samoa

Email: faalupe@gmail.com

Ms. Lynette Fa’alupe Suiaunoa-Scanlan is a Hilton Fellow from the Hilton Prize Coalition and Global Health Task Force and has been assigned to assist the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Center for Global Health (CDC CGH) and PIHOA with implementing a coverage evaluation survey for preventative chemotherapy aimed to eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) in American Samoa. Ms. Suiaunoa-Scanlan recently moved back to American Samoa and is originally from the village of Mapusaga Fou. She holds a Masters Degree in Public Health from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia with a concentration in Global Health and a Bachelors Degree in Sociology and Communication from the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Ms. Suiaunoa-Scanlan assists with conducting and supervising community-based coverage survey interviews at selected households across American Samoa. She also assists with data collection and entry into survey tablets to finalizing the LF survey coverage reports. Ms. Suiaunoa-Scanlan strives to continue to work towards achieving more health goals and ultimately to eliminate Lymphatic Filiriasis and other diseases in American Samoa. 

Regional Laboratory Program Specialist

Location: Pohnpei, FSM

Email: manasam@pihoa.org

Mr. Manasa Mainaqelelevu is originally from Fiji and joined PIHOA in 2018 as the Regional Laboratory Program Specialist. He works closely with PIHOA Regional Laboratory Strengthening Coordinator, Ms. Vasiti Uluiviti and contributes to Strengthening Medical Laboratory Development in the USAPIs. Mr. Mainaqelelvu’s focus of work is to create a pathway for international accreditation for medical testing laboratories in the USAPI jurisdictions using the Stepwise Laboratory Quality Improvement Process Towards Accreditation (SLIPTA) and the Strengthening Laboratory Management Towards Accreditation (SLMTA) Toolkit. Apart from that, he also assists in many laboratory specialized trainings. Mr. Mainaqelelevu is a certified SLIPTA/SLMTA trainer and is involved in the implementation of SLIPTA and SLMTA in the USAPI labs. He also provides training, technical assistance and consultation on laboratory systems improvement processes for the establishment of quality laboratory management systems in USAPI labs. Mr. Mainaqelelvu’s work also includes improving and enhancing influenza lab-based surveillance, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance and other infectious diseases (e.g. mumps, leptospirosis, dengue) and infection prevention and control practices in the USAPIs. Before he joined PIHOA, Mr. Mainaqelelvu was a Lecturer of Microbiology for 13 years at the Fiji National University (FNU) and coordinated their Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Science Program. He was also the Laboratory Quality Manager and Laboratory Manager for six years at the LBJ Tropical Medical Center in American Samoa. Mr. Mainaqelelevu holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Medical Laboratory Science from the University of Tasmania, Postgraduate Diploma in Microbiology from the University of Otago, a Postgraduate Diploma in Tertiary Teaching, and is Board Certified with the American Society of Clinical Pathology as a Medical Laboratory Scientist.

Regional Health Information Systems and Performance Management Consultant

Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

Email: durand@pihoa.org

From 2011 to 2019, Dr. Mark Durand served as the Regional Health Information Systems and Performance Management Coordinator for PIHOA. In 2020, he continued his work as a consultant by providing technical assistance and leadership to PIHOA in areas related to Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement and Health Information Systems. Dr. Durand has worked extensively in health agencies throughout the USAPIs in health workforce planning and development, development of disease surveillance systems, health information systems, strategic planning for health agencies, and quality assurance program development. He is the former Director of Health Services in Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia, a public health administrator/medical director in the Northern Mariana Islands, and director of the Yap Area Health Education Center and a faculty member at the University of Hawaii ‐ John A. Burns School of Medicine - Palau Area Health Education Center - Community Health Residency Program for physicians. Dr. Durand has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed papers related to health services in the Pacific.

Administrative Assistant

Location: Guam

Email: matildaw@pihoa.org

Biography coming soon.

Accounting Assistant

Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

Email: assistant@pihoa.org

Biography coming soon.

Regional Public Health Advisor, Grants Management – USAPI NCD and PHEP Programs

Location: Guam

Email: greathouse@pihoa.org

Mr. Robert Greathouse joined PIHOA in September 2018 as an independent contractor, serving in the role of Regional Public Health Advisor, supporting both noncommunicable disease and public health emergency preparedness programs across all six USAPI jurisdictions. He is based at PIHOA’s Guam Office located in Hagatna. Mr. Greathouse comes to PIHOA with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Texas Southern University (TSU), and his Master’s Degree in Public Health (with an emphasis on Community Health and Development) from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. Mr. Greathouse brings to his current position five years supporting grants and project management functions for CDC-funded global health projects, as both a Project Officer and Senior Project Officer. Mr. Greathouse has supported CDC-funded projects in both Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, spanning a wide array of program areas, including HIV, TB, malaria prevention, infection prevention and control, strategic information, and organizational systems strengthening programming. Before joining PIHOA, Mr. Greathouse worked for three years at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) as a Country Program Officer in Washington, D.C. Subsequently, he served for two years as a Senior Project Officer at ICAP at Columbia University in New York City. In both roles, Mr. Greathouse provided technical assistance to a portfolio of country programs across the three phases of the grants life cycle, including the pre-award, award, and post-award phase. Mr. Greathouse has accrued expertise in proposal management, project startup including work plan and budget development, financial and programmatic reporting, the preparation and submission of prior approvals, and project closeout processes. Mr. Greathouse conveys that his goals and objectives as the PIHOA Regional Public Health Advisor are to improve the processes deployed by USAPI jurisdictional NCD and PHEP programs in the award and post-award phases of the grants cycle, particularly with respect to budget and financial report preparation. In the long term, he also hopes to work in tandem with colleagues in each jurisdiction to reduce unobligated balances for each respective program, and strengthen the capacity of these colleagues to support grants management functions across the grants lifecycle and form a cadre of “Grants Management Champions” for federal grants management in each jurisdiction.

CDC Career Epidemiology Field Officer

Location: Guam

Email: vie1@cdc.gov, thaneh@pihoa.org

W. Thane Hancock was born and raised in Hawaii with an older adopted brother from the Federated States of Micronesia. While growing up, he spent summers with his brother's family on Ulithi Atoll in Yap State. When he was 14 years old, during one of the visits, he fell ill and quickly appreciated the impact of being in a resource-limited health system. He decided that he would later come back to Micronesia to serve as a health professional. Dr. Hancock received his BA in Anthropology from Amherst College in Massachusetts, and then returned to the Pacific for his MPH, MD, and residency training at the University of Hawaii. Upon completing his family medicine residency, Dr. Hancock accepted a job with the Wa'ab Community Health Center in Yap, Micronesia where he fulfilled his National Health Service Corps commitment working as a family physician. In 2011, he joined US CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) where he worked in the Outbreak Response and Prevention Branch of the Division of Foodborne Waterborne and Environmental Diseases. In 2013, Dr. Hancock returned to Yap State to serve as a physician with a focus on non-communicable diseases and to assist the Yap EpiNet Team with outbreak surveillance and response. After a year and a half of service in Yap, he joined PIHOA and the US CDC as the new Career Epidemiology Field Officer for the USAPIs. He values the opportunity to serve with other public health professionals to help strengthen epidemiology across the region.

CDC Immunization Project Officer

Location: Guam

Email: mmh0@cdc.gov, maryh@pihoa.org

Biography coming soon.

CDC Immunization Project Officer

Location: Guam

Email: epk5@cdc.gov

Biography coming soon.

CSTE Applied Epidemiology Fellow

Location: Guam

Email: stephaniek@pihoa.org

Biography coming soon.