Clinic Visit

History of the Clinic Visits 2019 – 2018

The current funding phase started in 2017. It has given us the opportunity to continue the 10-year follow-up clinic visits so that we can offer them to all participants. If you have not already come for the follow-up visit, please contact us to schedule a time convenient to you. If you have not yet had a clinic visit, we want to see you! Please schedule a visit. It is still very valuable for us to see people for the first time at the clinic.

2017 – 2016

By the end of the 2012-2017 funding phase, over 400 participants attended the 10-year follow-up clinic visit. This is a wonderful contribution to the understanding of lifestyle, culture, and health by our participants. Thank you to everyone who came for their follow-up clinic. 

2015

We are happy to report that 180 participants have attended our 10-year follow-up clinic visit. Mahalo to everyone! The unique strength of this important research is the loyalty and commitment of our participant ‘Ohana. Also unique is the long term relationship from small kid time until the present. The depth and breadth of your contributions are resulting in extensive publication of results regarding the understanding of relations among lifestyle, culture, and health over the lifespan. Our staff is ready to welcome you to your very first or your 10-year follow-up clinic visit!

We are constantly grateful for your generous contributions over time. Mahalo!

2014

This has been a busy year with 140 participants joining us for their 10-year follow-up clinic visit. We also have welcomed new participants for their very first clinic visit and/or survey. We are grateful for everyone’s participation and continue to offer $150 if you live on O’ahu and $300 if you live elsewhere to help defray travel costs. We have welcomed a new staff member, Jonathan Lai, RD, CDE, whose background in clinical and research nutrition is very important for the project. He is interviewing participants and learning all the aspects of this complex study.

2013

We are ready to greet you for your follow-up clinic visit! You will receive an invitation near the 10-year anniversary of your first clinic visit. We anticipate welcoming you back! And we look forward to meeting you if you are joining us for the first time. As before, you will receive $150 when attending the visit if you live on O’ahu. If you live on the neighbor islands, the mainland, or in a foreign country, you will receive $300 to help defray travel costs.

2012

We exceeded our goal for this phase of our study, 2007 – 2012, thanks to your commitment and participation!

Your ‘Ohana is growing each year, as many people unable to join us in the past are now completing surveys and the clinic visit. In our recent visits to Kaua’i, Wai’anae, the Big Island, and Maui alone, 90 people attended clinic visits for a total of 827 visits overall. 72% of the students from long ago have joined the follow-up study by completing surveys and 60% of these have attended a clinic visit. These are amazing numbers. It’s only due to your commitment to this important work that we have been able to reach our goal for this research phase. Although we have finished our neighbor island work for now, we are still welcoming everyone to complete a clinic visit at Dole Cannery on O’ahu.

2011

Early in 2011, we are planning to invite Leeward residents to a clinic visit at Kaiser Permanente’s Nanaikeola Clinic in Wai’anae on O’ahu. With competing schedules of work, family activities, and child/elder care, it is often difficult for participants to attend a clinic visit at our Dole facility in Honolulu. We are hoping that many folks in the Leeward area will join us for this important part of our study.

2010

Our happiest news this year was our ability to welcome participants for a clinic visit on Kaua’i.  Beginning in September 2009, we began seeing folks at our research clinic in Dole Cannery on O’ahu and at the Aloha Medical Center in Lihue, Kaua’i. Our team visited Kauai two to four times a month, scheduling appointments at times convenient for participants. The staff at Aloha Medical Center welcomed our team and supported our work in many ways. We are grateful for the opportunity to work there. Our main work on Kaua’i is concluded; however, we may continue to occasionally visit Kaua’i as we discover newly interested participants. Both Dole and Kaua’i participants have given their time generously to the clinic visit — by mid-December 770 folks have joined us in this important part of the project!   Mahalo, Everyone!

2009

We are continuing to see participants for the clinic visit. By the end of April our numbers will have grown to 655 on the way to our goal of 810 by the end of this phase of the study. Mahalo to everyone! We greatly appreciate the time you have spent with us in the clinic.

2008

In January 2008, project members from Oregon Research Institute and Kaiser Center for Health Research, Hawai’i met  in Honolulu at Dole Cannery to coordinate work for our third research phase.

Those attending included from left to right: Teresa Hillier, Sarah Hampson, Darlene Hobbs, Aleli Vinoya, Lew Goldberg, Cris Yamabe, Amy Stone Murai, Melody Joy Fo, Dan Brown, Joan Dubanoski, Chris Arthun, Howard Friedman, Allen Gervacio.

2007

In August 2007, the project was awarded five more years of funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Our proposal to continue our work was successful! The award further validates this important study, as this is the third major award since we have received since we began follow-up of participants from “small kid time” in 1998. In other good news, 560 people have joined us for the clinic visit and we were able to reach our goal of 550 by September 1 due to the generous response of participants. Mahalo to everyone who is interested in this study and to those who have completed surveys (survey 4 was mailed this year) and/or the clinic visit. We invite everyone whom we have located to join us — receive results about your own health and help us create knowledge to benefit the next generation.

Beginning in this third project phase, we have some role changes in leadership and a new core team member. Sarah Hampson is now the principal investigator of the overall project, while Lew Goldberg is now a co-investigator. We are grateful for Lew’s leadership in the past and are happy that he remains with the project in a new role. Tom Vogt, the principal investigator of the Hawaii project segment, has retired; however, he remains interested in the project and is available for consultation. Joan Dubanoski, who has assumed the role of principal investigator, is very glad to have Tom’s continued consultation! Teresa Hillier has joined the project as we begin to look at metabolic syndrome (related to diabetes) in this project phase. Teresa has appointments in both Northwest and Hawai’i Kaiser Permanente Centers for Health Research, is an endocrinologist, and has extensive research experience. We recently received a smaller grant from NIH to support our work with metabolic syndrome, so Teresa’s expertise is much appreciated. Welcome, Teresa!  Our other team members remain the same — their roles are described on the Project Team page. We are grateful for their excellent work and enthusiasm for this unique and important study.

2006

We now have over 500 participants in the clinic visit and an excellent response to the third survey mentioned above.  We continue to welcome new participants as we enter 2007, the last year of our current funding cycle. On November 1, 2006, we submitted a proposal to the National Institutes of Health for a renewal of our funding for another five years. We await the results of the proposal review in the early spring.  With our best wishes, Shannon Geenty left the project to travel and consider a possilble move to the mainland.  This year also has been filled with conference presentations, data analysis, and paper writing, a busy year for everyone associated with the project.

2005

Since 2004, over 300 people have participated in the clinic visit. We deeply appreciate their vital contributions and we encourage everyone who is contacted to join us in this phase of the study. We recently received additional funding to help defray costs of attending the clinic visit. You will receive $150 for the clinic visit, $150 toward your airfare if you do not live on O’ahu,  your lab results within two weeks, and the knowledge that you have contributed to important research. The second and third surveys were mailed in 2004 and early in 2005. Over 80% of participants completed the second survey (an amazing return rate) and the third survey is currently being returned to Oregon Research Institute. During 2005, research assistant Carmen Green moved to the mainland and Shannon Geenty has now joined our team.

2004

In February 2004 our now larger team met, including Sarah Hampson, returned from the UK, and Teresa Hillier, who has submitted an ancillary proposal to look at the metabolic syndrome associated with diabetes. We reviewed many aspects of the study, including the creation of a new survey to be mailed in the spring of 2005.

2002 – 2003

After funding by the National Institutes of Health in 2002 to continue the Lifestyle, Culture, and Health study, our team met in Honolulu, February 2003, at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Hawai’i.  Principal Investigator, Lew Goldberg, Oregon Research Institute, joined Hawai’i co-investigators Tom Vogt (Hawai’i Principal Investigator), and Joan Dubanoski (Project Director), and research assistant Cris Yamabe to begin planning the clinic visit phase of our study. Our fourth co-investigator, Sarah Hampson, joined our discussions via phone from the United Kingdom.