{"id":229693,"date":"2026-02-19T13:12:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T23:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=229693"},"modified":"2026-02-19T13:13:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T23:13:39","slug":"epidemiology-student-diabetes-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/02\/19\/epidemiology-student-diabetes-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Epidemiology student helps advance inclusion in diabetes research"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Kauilaon\u0101lani
Kauilaon\u0101lani Tengan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kauilaon\u0101lani Tengan is inspired to encourage greater participation from Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and Filipino communities in diabetes clinical trials to ensure research better reflects the populations most affected by the disease.<\/p>\n

Leave your assumptions and biases at the door and engage these communities with aloha.
—Kauilaon\u0101lani Tengan<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He is translating that goal into practice through applied research. A master of science student in epidemiology at the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at M\u0101noa Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health<\/a>, Tengan was part of a study team at The Queen\u2019s Health Systems (QHS<\/abbr>) whose findings were published in Therapeutic Innovation & Regulatory Science<\/a><\/em> in the study Exploring Diabetes Clinical Trial Participation: A Diverse Group Interview Study<\/em>.<\/p>\n

“I have a family history of cardiometabolic diseases and I remember visiting extended family who had to fly from Moloka\u02bbi just to receive quality care here on Oʻahu<\/span>,” he said. “This [experience] instilled in me a desire to learn more about health issues so prevalent in our islands and contribute to innovative solutions.”<\/p>\n

Research findings and lessons learned<\/h2>\n

While at QHS<\/abbr>, Tengan split his time between health equity research and clinical data management, utilizing electronic medical records to address research questions. He helped conduct interviews with 56 hospitalized patients to explore what motivates—or prevents—patients from joining diabetes clinical trials.<\/p>\n

\"Tengan
Tengan and Research Associate Julia Takata conduct bedside interviews using portable chairs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although 84% expressed willingness to participate, most had never been asked. Barriers included mistrust, concerns about medication risks, and lack of understanding, while many Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander participants cited family and community benefit as key motivators.<\/p>\n

“Engaging face-to-face with people in a clinical setting humanized health data for me,” Tengan said. “It reminded me that these are people, not statistics. I realized that my work has a lasting impact, so it is my responsibility to do things in a pono manner.”<\/p>\n

Tengan hopes to carry these lessons forward. “Leave your assumptions and biases at the door and engage these communities with aloha,” he said. “It is vital that we do work in an ethically and culturally nuanced way because there are real world impacts in the data that we publish.”<\/p>\n

The study was part of an Food and Drug Administration<\/abbr>-funded project at The Queen\u02bbs Medical Center, in collaboration with the 糖心视频<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Department of Public Health Sciences<\/a>, <\/a>糖心视频<\/abbr> Hilo College of Pharmacy<\/a> and clinical partners. Previous work by the team<\/a> also found that Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander participants are consistently underrepresented in U.S.<\/abbr> clinical trials.<\/p>\n

“Kauilaon\u0101lani\u2019s perspectives and real-life application from quantitative analyses are so important to building collective public health,” said Tetine Sentell, public health professor and study co-author.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kauilaon\u0101lani Tengan was part of research that inspired him to learn more about health issues affecting our communities. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":229711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[52,1045,165,1467,1363,242,50,241,449,158,596,14,9],"class_list":["post-229693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-college-of-pharmacy","tag-epidemiology","tag-health","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-native-hawaiian-health","tag-pharmacy","tag-public-health","tag-public-health-sciences","tag-publication","tag-myron-b-thompson-school-of-social-work","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t