The Daniel K. InouyeCollege of Pharmacy

Taira Lab

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Principal Investigator

Deborah Taira, ScD

Professor

dtjuarez@hawaii.edu

677 Ala Moana Boulevard, Honolulu, HI 96813

Chair, Health Science Research Certificate
Please ask Dr. Taira (dtjuarez@hawaii.edu) about the Health Science Research Certificate program.

Recent highlights

Flyer promoting the "Health Equity Forum Podcast" by the FDA’s Office of Minority Health and Health Equity. Key Elements: Images of Featured Speakers: Todd Seto, MD, MPH: Pictured on the left, smiling and wearing a white lab coat. His title: Director of Academic Affairs and Research at The Queen’s Medical Center. Deborah Taira, ScD: Pictured on the right, smiling and wearing a floral patterned blouse. Her title: Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice, University of Hawaii at Hilo; Researcher, The Queen’s Medical Center. Podcast Title: "Health Equity Forum Podcast." Subheading: "Office of Minority Health and Health Equity." The URL for more information is: www.fda.gov/HealthEquity. Podcast Topic: “Engaging Native Hawaiian Communities in Clinical Trials.” Availability: The podcast can be listened to on various platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and Pandora. The FDA logo is displayed in the top right corner. This flyer highlights efforts to engage Native Hawaiian communities in clinical trials through discussions on health equity.

  • Attended President's Advisory Commission on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Policy

Dr. Taira stands in front of a sign that reads "President's Advisory Commission on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Policy"Dr. Taira at the President's Advisory Commission on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Policy

Research Topic Areas

  • Health equity
  • Clinical trial diversity
  • Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander health
  • Mixed methods studies
  • Chronic disease medication adherence

Contact Information

Email: dtjuarez@hawaii.edu

Background

I have prior experience in health disparities related to socioeconomic status and affecting Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI), conducting mixed-methods analyses, and collaborating with other investigators. I have a Master’s in Public Affairs from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and a doctorate in health economics from the Harvard School of Public Health. Upon graduation, I worked with investigators from the RAND Health Insurance Experiment at The Health Institute at the New England Medical Center measuring primary care and health status from the patient perspective.

Then, at the Cardiovascular Data Analysis Center at The Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, which ran large international clinical trials, I examined cost and quality of life alongside cardiovascular clinical trials strengthening my skills in patientcentered outcomes research. For over a decade at the Hawaiʻi Medical Service Association (Blue Cross Blue Shield of Hawaiʻi), I examined health disparities affecting AANHPI subgroups using a combination of ethnicity data from member surveys and administrative data. I have also worked closely with the Department of Native Hawaiian Health for many years. For five years, I served as the Director for the Research Training and Education Core of the Center for Native and Pacific Health Disparities Research.

Currently, I am the Component Head for economic analysis for the Center for Pacific Innovations, Knowledge, and Opportunities, funded by NIMHD. I am also a member of the Health Equity Data Group of the Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander (NHPI) Hawaiʻi COVID-19 Response, Recovery & Resiliency Team that seeks to strengthen data collection and health disparities monitoring for NHPI. I also worked for 10 years for the Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Translational Research Network as Research Coordinating Center liaison, encouraging collaboration among scientists across Minority Serving Institutions.

Current Funding

  1. PIKO NIH NIGMS (20% time funded)
    Center for Pacific Innovations, Knowledge and Opportunities (PIKO)
    Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design Core
    Component Head: Economic Analysis
  2. Co-Lead (20% time funded) Role of social connection in cognitive decline in socioeconomically disadvantaged population (CONNECT)” (3U54GM138062-04S1)
    NIH NIGMS

Representative Publications

Link to more publications

  1. Davis J, Lim E, Taira DA, Chen J. Relation of the Networks Formed by Diabetic Patients Sharing Physicians With Emergency Department Visits and Hospitalizations. Med Care. 2020 Sep;58(9):800-804. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10697216.
  2. Sentell TL, Seto TB, Quensell ML, Malabed JM, Guo M, Vawer MD, Braun KL, Taira DA. Insights in Public Health: Outpatient Care Gaps for Patients Hospitalized with Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions in Hawaiʻi: Beyond Access and Continuity of Care. Hawaii J Health Soc Welf. 2020 Mar 1;79(3):91-97. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7061028.
  3. Vawer M, Rutiz R, Tukuafu V, Whatley K, Hanchett K, Kahaleuahi L, Park L, Minn M, Blackburn B, Young M, Muneno A, Taira DA, Sentell T, Seto TB. Insights in Public Health: Hana Pu No Ke Ola O Hana ("Working Together for the Health of Hana"): Our 14-year CBPR Journey. Hawaii J Med Public Health. 2019 Mar;78(3):111-114. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6401196.
  4. Seto J, Davis J, Taira DA. Examining the Association Between Different Aspects of Socioeconomic Status, Race, and Disability in Hawaii. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2018 Dec;5(6):1247-1253. PubMed PMID: 29464658.
  5. Davis J, Fujimoto RY, Juarez DT, Hodges KA, Asam JK. Major depression associated with rates of cardiovascular disease state transitions. Am J Manag Care. 2008 Mar;14(3):125-8. PubMed PMID: 18333704.
  6. Davis J, Taira DA, Lim E, Chen J. Socialization, Relaxation, and Leisure across the Day by Social Determinants of Health: Results from the American Time Use Survey, 2014-2016. Healthcare (Basel). 2023 May 28;11(11) PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10253115.
  7. Tsuzaki K, Taira D. Forgone Health Care for Non-COVID-19-Related Needs Among Medicare Beneficiaries During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Summer 2020-Winter 2021. Prev Chronic Dis. 2022 Oct 13;19:E64. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9616132.
  8. Taira DA, Safran DG, Seto TB, Rogers WH, Inui TS, Montgomery J, Tarlov AR. Do patient assessments of primary care differ by patient ethnicity?. Health Serv Res. 2001 Dec;36(6 Pt 1):1059-71. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1089278.
  9. Safran DG, Kosinski M, Tarlov AR, Rogers WH, Taira DH, Lieberman N, Ware JE. The Primary Care Assessment Survey: tests of data quality and measurement performance. Med Care. 1998 May;36(5):728-39. PubMed PMID: 9596063.
  10. Taira DA, Safran DG, Seto TB, Rogers WH, Tarlov AR. The relationship between patient income and physician discussion of health risk behaviors. JAMA. 1997 Nov 5;278(17):1412-7. PubMed PMID: 9355999.
  11. Taira DA, Safran DG, Seto TB, Rogers WH, Kosinski M, Ware JE, Lieberman N, Tarlov AR. Asian- American patient ratings of physician primary care performance. J Gen Intern Med. 1997 Apr;12(4):237-42. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1497096.
  12. Cohen DJ, Taira DA, Berezin R, Cox DA, Morice MC, Stone GW, Grines CL. Cost-effectiveness of coronary stenting in acute myocardial infarction: results from the stent primary angioplasty in myocardial infarction (stent-PAMI) trial. Circulation. 2001 Dec 18;104(25):3039-45.
  13. Seto TB, Taira DA, Tsevat J, Manning WJ. Cost-effectiveness of transesophageal echocardiographic-guided cardioversion: a decision analytic model for patients admitted to the hospital with atrial fibrillation. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1997 Jan;29(1):122-30. PubMed PMID: 8996304.
  14. Taira DA, Seto TB, Siegrist R, Cosgrove R, Berezin R, Cohen DJ. Comparison of analytic approaches for the economic evaluation of new technologies alongside multicenter clinical trials. Am Heart J. 2003 Mar;145(3):452-8. PubMed PMID: 12660668.
  15. Taira DA, Seto TB, Ho KK, Krumholz HM, Cutlip DE, Berezin R, Kuntz RE, Cohen DJ. Impact of smoking on health-related quality of life after percutaneous coronary revascularization. Circulation. 2000 Sep 19;102(12):1369-74. PubMed PMID: 10993854.
  16. Hu D, Juarez DT, Yeboah M, Castillo TP. Interventions to increase medication adherence in African-American and Latino populations: a literature review. Hawaii J Med Public Health. 2014 Jan;73(1):11-8. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3901167.
  17. Malabed JM, Taira DA, Seto TB, Braun KL, Sentell T. 2017 Writing Contest Undergraduate Winner: Pathways to Preventable Hospitalizations for Filipino Patients with Diabetes and Heart Disease in Hawaiʻi. Hawaii J Med Public Health. 2018 Jul;77(7):155-160. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6037827.
  18. Sentell TL, Agner JL, Davis J, Mannem S, Seto TB, Valente TW, Vawer M, Taira DA. Social networks in patients hospitalized with preventable conditions for heart disease and diabetes in Hawaiʻi by health literacy. Chronic Illn. 2022 Sep;18(3):517-531. PubMed PMID: 33497289.
  19. Yazdanshenas H, Bazargan M, Jones L, Vawer M, Seto TB, Farooq S, Taira DA. Engaging Gatekeeper-Stakeholders in Development of a Mobile Health Intervention to Improve Medication Adherence Among African American and Pacific Islander Elderly Patients With Hypertension. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2016 Oct 26;4(4):e116. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5103104.
  20. Sentell TL, Ahn HJ, Miyamura J, Juarez DT. Cost Burden of Potentially Preventable Hospitalizations for Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes for Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Whites in Hawaiʻi. J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2015 May;26(2 Suppl):63-82. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4554682.
  21. Sentell TL, Juarez DT, Ahn HJ, Tseng CW, Chen JJ, Salvail FR, Miyamura J, Mau MK. Disparities in diabetes-related preventable hospitalizations among working-age Native Hawaiians and Asians in Hawaiʻi. Hawaii J Med Public Health. 2014 Dec;73(12 Suppl 3):8-13. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4271352.
  22. Sentell TL, Ahn HJ, Juarez DT, Tseng CW, Chen JJ, Salvail FR, Miyamura J, Mau ML. Comparison of potentially preventable hospitalizations related to diabetes among Native Hawaiian, Chinese, Filipino, and Japanese elderly compared with whites, Hawaiʻi, December 2006-December 2010. Prev Chronic Dis. 2013 Jul 25;10:E123. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3725845.
  23. Sentell TL, Seto TB, Young MM, Vawer M, Quensell ML, Braun KL, Taira DA. Pathways to potentially preventable hospitalizations for diabetes and heart failure: a qualitative analysis of patient perspectives. BMC Health Serv Res. 2016 Jul 26;16:300. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4960879.