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INFORMATION FOR

    Samoa

    Site Institution: Samoa Ministry of Health
    Research Areas: Epigenetics, Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases, Perinatal Epidemiology

    Site Description:
    The Yale University/Samoa Ministry of Health Collaborative Research Center provides training opportunities in perinatal epidemiology and non-communicable chronic diseases, in a population that has some of the highest rates of obesity and diabetes in the world. The center was started under the coordination of Dr. Satupaitea Viali of the National University of Samoa and Dr. Nicola Hawley, Associate Professor at Yale University. Drs. Viali and Hawley have been colleagues since 2009, establishing their collaboration on a study of the genetic origins of adult non-communicable diseases. Since that initial work, they have extended their research program to study non-communicable and infectious diseases in childhood and explore how obesity, diabetes, and hypertension impact maternal pregnancy health and offspring health outcomes. With the support of mentors, this site has provided training to more than 30 undergraduate, MPH and PhD students over the past 10 years, in both short- and long-term placements. Dr. Hawley herself began her postdoctoral career at this site under the mentorship of Professor Stephen McGarvey (Brown University) and Dr. Viali. She is now a productive mid-career faculty member at the Yale School of Public Health with an international reputation for her work in Samoa and other Pacific settings on non-communicable diseases.

    Recent GHES Projects:
    • Reproductive health and cardiometabolic risk among Samoan women (PI: Oyama, MD/PhD student, Yale)
    • Contributions of school nutritional and physical activity environments to childhood obesity risk (PI: Choy, Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale)
    • Impact of physical activity on women’s physical and mental health in Samoa (PI: Rivara, Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale)

    Ongoing Site Projects:
    • Longitudinal cohort studies of cardiometabolic risk in infancy, childhood, and adulthood
    • Contributions of the gut microbiome and human milk composition to infant adiposity
    • The role of genetics and environment in cognitive resilience
    • Factors influencing engagement in care among those with type 2 diabetes


    Mentors

    GHES Alumni

    • Courtney Choy

      PhD candidate

      In Samoa, Courtney Choy serves as a Fulbright Research Fellow at the Ministry of Health where she is leading a project to explore mothers’ views regarding factors that influence early childhood feeding practices and physical activity levels, and to understand the role of the Samoan home environment in the development of healthy behaviors. This research project is an extension of her Yale MPH summer research under the mentorship of Dr. Nicola Hawley. She also supports various nutrition activities and community outreach programs in both the Samoan islands of Upolu and Savaii, enjoying the unique Pacific Island culture. Courtney looks forward to meeting new people during her fellowship in Samoa in hope of further promoting cultural understanding and working together to promote and sustain good health and wellbeing of communities in the Pacific.
    • Sakurako Oyama
      Ms. Oyama spent her fellowship year at the Samoan Ministry of Health in Apia under the mentorship of Nicola Hawley, PhD and Satupaitea Viali, BHB, MChB, FRACP, FCSANZ, MPH. Her research focused on evaluating the cardiometabolic correlates and psychosocial burden of infertility among Samoan women with obesity. Ms. Oyama received her MPhil in Applied Biological Anthropology at the University of Cambridge as a Gates Cambridge Scholar and her BA in Anthropology and Biology at Washington University in St. Louis. She is currently pursuing a MD/PhD in the Department of Anthropology at Yale University. Ultimately, she aspires to become a physician scientist who practices obstetrics and gynecology and conducts longitudinal epidemiological research to characterize how rising obesity prevalence among women of reproductive age affects maternal and child health outcomes globally.