Pacific EMPRINTS Staff & Affiliate Faculty

Dr. Sakaguchi is a faculty member in medical anthropology at the University of Hawaii's College of Social Sciences. She is also the Program Director/Principal Investigator of Pacific EMPRINTS. Her interests include health disparities, health care disparities, medical malpractice, health policy and politics and the role of public health in emergency management and preparedness. She served on the advisory board of the Hawaii State Civil Defense, the Executive Committee for the State Department of Health's Bioterrorism Training and Preparedness Committee, HRSA's National Hospital Preparedness Program Committee for the State of Hawaii, Emergency Transition One-Stop project, the Hawaii Emergency Preparedness Executive Committee, and currently serves as an External Advisory Board Member for the University of California Davis-Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Point-of-Care Technologies Center. She has recently been nominated to serve as a member of the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) steering committee and working group that will produce the first global guidelines for this important field.

Barbara has been nationally recognized for her expertise in Weapons of Mass Destruction and Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Incidents. She is one of few who have successfully completed the personal development series and the Hazard series at the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland. She has coordinated local training scenarios/exercises for Emergency Medical Services personnel since 1982 until her retirement. The exercises have included many different local, county and state agencies. In addition, she maintained certification as BCLS Instructor Trainer, Advanced Cardiac Life Support Instructor, Pediatric Advanced Life Support Instructor, Prehospital Trauma Life Support Instructor, Pediatric Education for Prehospital Professionals Instructor Trainer and Advanced Life Support Instructor Trainer. Barbara has taught at the First Responder, Emergency Medical Technical-Basic and Intermediate and Paramedic levels.

John is a faculty member with the School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene at the University of Hawaii Manoa where he is the Director of the Office of International Affairs. He has a long interest in Bioterrorism and a Disaster Preparedness with a special interest in the political and economic ramifications of these issues as well as the more practical side - in dealing with the role of the nursing profession in dealing with natural and man-made disasters. He is one of the founding members of Pacific EMPRINTS.

Christopher Crabtree is a certified Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), is licensed as a paramedic in the State of Hawaii, and is a Master Instructor for the Emergency Management Institute (EMI). In his role as a paramedic, he is a member and training officer of the Hawaii Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT), active during emergency events. He has also held positions with Hawaii Air Ambulance as a flight paramedic, and the Baltimore City Fire Department. Christopher Crabtree is a certified instructor of numerous courses, including AHA Advanced Cardiac Life Support, AHA Pediatric Cardiac Life Support, Preshospital Trauma Life Support, and Advanced Medical Life Support. He is also a National Disaster Life Support (NDLS)-certified instructor for Pacific EMPRINTS, certified to teach Basic and Advanced Disaster Life Support courses.

Carter Davis has a diverse background in emergency medical services, emergency management and fire safety. He has been an EMS instructor for 20+ years here in Hawaii, mainland US and the Pacific Rim and has held leadership roles in training, management, planning and preparedness, quality assurance and community outreach. He participates in the State Civil Defense's Tactical Interoperability Communications Plan (TICP) Exercise as the City's Communications Unit Leader (COML) and coordinates all communications activities at the exercise including "patching" or "joining" different communications systems used by Federal, State, City and private responders together. He is also a peer evaluator for the DHS at similar TICP exercises conducted in cities around the country. Carter is also a member of the Hawaii Urban Search and Rescue Team and a certified train-the-trainer for FEMA, Red Cross, National Fire Academy, International Association of Fire Fighters and much more.

Dr. Frankel is an Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, specializing in infectious diseases, international health, and preventive medicine.. He has worked in the past in various capacities for the State of Hawaii Department of Health, The Queen's Medical Center, and the Department of Veterans Affairs Pacific Islands Health Care System in Honolulu, Hawaii. Dr. Frankel has also consulted extensively for the Ministries of Health in Thailand, the Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, the People's Republic of China, the Kingdom of Tonga, the Republic of the Philippines, Malaysia, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of Vanuatu, and the Territory of American Samoa as a World Health Organization consultant, and worked as a Preventive Medicine Officer for the U.S. Army. He has won numerous awards for excellence in teaching over the years, including five "Excellence in Medical Teaching" awards from the University of Hawaii Integrated Medical Residency Program, and more recently a "Certificate of Appreciation" from the Department of Public Health and Social Services of the Territory of Guam. He has numerous publications in periodicals, textbook chapter, and books, and has presented over 50 papers around the world in the field of infectious diseases. Dr. Frankel completed his undergraduate and medical degrees at Yale University and his internship and residency at Stanford University.

Patsy teaches at the Department of Dental Hygiene, School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, Manoa. She also maintains a private dental practice in Hilo. In her spare time, Patsy enjoys reading, crocheting, running and tai chi. She has reviewed online bioterrorism courses for dentists and other health professionals for Pacific EMPRINTS.

Dr. Haning is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), Director of the Addiction Psychiatry Residency/Addiction Medicine Fellowship Programs, Principal Investigator and Co-Director of the Pacific Addiction Research Center, Director of Graduate Affairs at JABSOM, and Co-Chair of the Locomotor, Brain and Behavior component of the medical student education curriculum. He is certified in addiction medicine by the American Society of Addiction Medicine, and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and a Diplomate of the American Board of Addiction Medicine. He has received numerous academic awards, as well as a Navy Meritorious Service Medal in 2009 recognizing his contributions to military graduate medical education. Dr. Haning is a Navy Reserve Medical Corps Captain, and former Medical Director of the Tri-Service Alcoholism Recovery Facility, Tripler Army Medical Center, as well as a Reserve Force Surgeon for the Marine Corps Forces Pacific and a Division Psychiatrist for the 4th Marine Division. He consults to the Board of Medical Examiners of the State of Hawaii, and to the Department of Veteran Affairs, in addition to sitting on the Examination Committee for Addiction Psychiatry of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Haning's research focus is in stimulant use disorders, principally methamphetamine. Dr. Haning is a National Disaster Life Support (NDLS)-certified instructor for Pacific EMPRINTS, certified to teach Basic and Advanced Disaster Life Support courses.

Dr. Katz is an infectious disease epidemiologist and author of several published state-wide bioterrorism preparedness assessments of health professionals in Hawaii:

Katz AR, Nekorchuk DM, Holck PS, Hendrickson LA, Imrie AA, Effler PV. Hawaii veterinarians’ bioterrorism preparedness needs assessment survey. J Vet Med Educ 2006; 33:612-617.
Katz AR, Nekorchuk DM, Holck PS, Hendrickson LA, Imrie AA, Effler PV. Hawaii physician and nurse bioterrorism preparedness survey. Prehospital Disaster Med 2006; 21:396-405.
Katz AR, Nekorchuk DM, Holck PS, Hendrickson LA, Imrie AA, Effler PV. Bioterrorism preparedness survey of Hawaii mental health professionals. Int J Ment Health 2006; 35:12-25.
Katz AR, Nekorchuk DM, Holck PS, Hendrickson LA, Imrie AA, Effler PV. Dentists’ preparedness for responding to bioterrorism: a survey of Hawaii dentists. J Am Dent Assoc 2006; 137:461-467.

Dr. Katz currently serves as a consultant to Pacific EMPRINTS for continuing education offerings.

John Kawahara is the Program Manager at Pacific EMPRINTS. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Information and Computer Sciences from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Mr. Kawahara is primarily responsible for assisting the project in coordinating events and ensuring that administrative and fiscal details are met at Pacific EMPRINTS. John’s favorite part of his job is to participate in the Live Training Exercises in which a disaster scenario is presented to trainees who must then try and bring control to the simulated crisis.

Ms. Maetani received her Masters in Social Work from the University of Hawaii in 1984.

At the Hawaii State Department of Health, she worked closely with individuals with disabilities, their families, and the community at large for over twenty years as a case manager and program coordinator. She also collaborated with community-based agencies in building support for individuals with disabilities.

During her tenure at the University of Hawaii’s Center on Disability Studies, she assisted the Emergency Transition planning grant by eliciting feedback from self advocates, families and community members to identify personal needs and to assess preparedness levels of individuals with disabilities in the event of a disaster. She also assisted in the planning of the Emergency Transition One Stop Summit meeting, which brought together federal, state and local emergency management entities that were interested in better addressing individuals with developmental disabilities. This important meeting was able to document the expected needs, personal concerns, and constructive suggestions to create a more effective Emergency Transition One Stop system.

Mr. Chuan Su is the IT and Data Management Specialist for Pacific EMPRINTS, in charge of the program's IT infrastructure/operations, data management and software development. He graduated from Hawaii Pacific University with a master of science in Information Systems in 2002 and has since been involved in and led a number of web application development projects of varying size and complexity.

In addition to his extensive experience in systems analysis, design, implementation and maintenance, Mr. Su is interested in IT security and governance. He served on the CISA Review Course Development Team, and also contributed to the CISA Review Questions, Answers and Explanation Manual (2006).

Mr. Su's most recent accomplishments include developing, integrating, and deploying the new EMPRINTS Distance Learning System and the web-based EMPRINTS Event Registration & Management System.

Michael Tamaru graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a BFA in visual design in 1968 and a MFA in 1971. He started in 1969 as a publications specialist with the Office of University Relations and Development and retired in 2005 as publications manager with the same office now known as the Office of External Affairs and University Relations. Mr. Tamaru received the Willard Wilson Award for Distinguished Service to the University in 1999.