Oahu Native Receives National Medical Research Fellowship
Oahu native and Harvard medical student Kara Wong received one of five Satcher Research Fellowships to research obesity in Native Hawaiians. Wong describes her research and discusses her plans for the future.
Washington, D. C. (PRWEB) October 4, 2006
Satcher Fellowship recipient and Oahu, Hi. native Kara Wong, 23, has been busy since she won her fellowship. Wong and four other Student National Medical Association medical student members received grants to research obesity or other ethnic health disparities in line with former Surgeon General David Satcher, M. D.’s “Healthy People 2010” initiative established in 2000. Since Satcher’s announcement, SNMA and Pfizer have partnered to fund the Satcher Fellowship, which provides a stipend to SNMA members who wish to research ethnic health disparities and who applied for the fellowship.
Wong, a Kaneohe native, is a second year student at Harvard School of Medicine. Wong returns home during breaks in school, and plans to return to Hawaii permanently after graduation to practice medicine. Wong won the research fellowship by presenting a proposal to research the environmental factors affecting obesity in Native Hawaiian communities.
Wong’s research focus is to discover why Native Hawaiians as an ethnic group are prone to disproportionately high rates of obesity. Wong’s research investigates three different communities on the island of Oahu; one with a high Native Hawaiian population and two others with moderate and small Native Hawaiian populations.
“This research project has been really good for me because it suits what I would like to do with my life after medical school. I plan to return to Hawaii to continue work on issues affecting Native Hawaiian health,” Wong said.
Wong hypothesizes that in communities with a high Native Hawaiian population, environmental factors, in this case limited access to exercise facilities and an over abundance of fast food outlets is contributing to Native Hawaiian obesity.
Dr. Marjorie Mau, Chair of the Department of Native Hawaiian Health at the University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine, is Wong’s mentor as she researches in Hawaii.
“Dr. Mau has helped me design my research protocol,” Wong said. “We meet regularly to discuss my progress.”
Wong will present her research at Student National Medical Association’s 42nd Annual Medical Education Conference, April 4-8, 2007 in San Francisco, Calif. The theme of this year’s conference is “Achieving Wellness: Building Bridges to the Future”.
For more information about Wong’s research or the Satcher Fellowships, please contact Melanie Sollid at (202) 882-2881.
About the SNMA:
Founded in 1964 by medical students from Howard University School of Medicine and Meharry Medical College, the Student National Medical Association is the nation’s oldest and largest, independent, student-run organization focused on the needs and concerns of medical students of color. Organized with more than 130 chapters across the nation, the SNMA membership includes more than 6,000 medical students, pre-medical students and physicians. Visit www. snma. org for more information.
Contact:
Melanie Sollid
Student National Medical Association
Publications & Marketing Manager
(202) 882-2881
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