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Profile

Valerie Yontz, RN-BC, MPH, PhD Specialist and Practicum Coordinator, Social and Behavioral Health Sciences 1960 East West Road, Biomed D202 Honolulu, HI 96822 email: vyontz@hawaii.edu phone: (808) 956-5771 fax: (808) 956-5818

Academic Degrees
PhD (Sociology of Aging), University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
MPH (Gerontology), University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
MA (Sociology), University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
MS (Nursing), University of Utah
MS (Biology), Saint Louis University (Missouri)
BSN (Nursing), Saint Louis University (Missouri)
BA (Biology), Illinois Wesleyan University (Missouri)

Certifications/Licenses
Registered Nurse (RN) in Hawai‘i
Board Certified as Gerontological Nurse (RN-BC)
Advanced Certificate in Gerontology (University of Hawai‘i)
Assisted Living National Administrator Certification (Level1)
Notary Public in State of Hawaii

Awards/Honors

Research Interests (past and current)

Current Research Grants
California Pacific Public Health Training Center (CALPACT) grant—Valerie Yontz is the Principal Investigator for University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and one of the Management Team members in conjunction with three California Schools of Public Health—UC-Berkeley, UC-Davis, UC-Fresno, and Pacific Island Health Officer Organization. The mission of CALPACT is to train existing public health workforce in the Hawai‘i, Pacific Islands, and California.

Courses Taught
PH 600 Introduction to Public Health
PH 602 Introduction to Health Services
PH 630 Cultural Competency in Health Care
PH 789 Integrative Seminar
PH 791 Advanced Public Health Practice
PH 793 Special Practicum or Special Projects

Dr. Valerie Yontz is currently Specialist and Practicum Coordinator. Through her experiences in the community, Dr. Yontz helps make linkages and placements for the MPH students' field practicum.

Over a ten year span, Dr. Yontz was the Coordinator of an Elderly Service Program for a Community Health Center in Hawaii called Kokua Kalihi Valley (KKV) Comprehensive Family Services. She developed an expansive and very successful community-based elderly service program that demonstrated elderly can exercise, eat right, improve their health, and age more successfully while staying longer in their own homes. Valerie also served as the Quality Assurance Officer and the Director of Public Housing Services for Kokua Kalihi Valley Health Center. She created many major components of KKV's Quality Improvement system. Prior to the university, Dr. Yontz worked as Health Service Director for Pohai Nani Retirement Assisted Living facility and with Hospice Hawaii as Patient Care Coordinator.

Valerie is originally from central Illinois and has a wide range of experiences acquired throughout her professional life. Valerie is a nurse, biologist, sociologist, and gerontologist. She has worked in Missouri, Maine, Utah, and Illinois as an emergency room nurse, home health nurse, tuberculosis monitoring nurse, and nursing consultant. With her transcultural nursing background, Valerie has worked overseas in Liberia, West Africa (Peace Corps) training village health workers and in Thailand, Malaysia and throughout Southeast Asia teaching and training Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees about health education topics and healthy behavior practices.

Selected Publications
Yontz, V. & Maddock, J. (2007). Focus on Health Disparities: Gaining Momentum in Hawaii, California Journal of Health Promotion 2007, Volume 5, Issue in press.

Yontz, V., Kilonsky, N. Maddock, J. & Braun, K. (2007) Public Health at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2000-2006. California Journal of Health Promotion 2007, Volume 5, Issue I, vii-xv.