Seunghye Hong (Principal Investigator)

Dr. Seunghye Hong is an Associate Professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health, Department of Social Work. She earned her Ph.D. in Social Welfare from the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, and an M.A. and a B.A. in Social Work from the Ewha Women’s University, Seoul, South Korea. Her research focuses on social, cultural, and developmental contexts and the associations with health and behavioral mental health outcomes including substance use disorders and co-occurring disorders and the healthcare and health services use among racial and ethnic minorities. She has extensive experience in quantitative research methods and evaluations and data analytics. She is serving as Principal Investigator for the Hawaiʻi Behavioral Health Training Institute (HBHTI) project, funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) Care Coordination & Capacity Building (C3) project, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the Hawaiʻi State Department of Health (DOH), Behavioral Health Administration (BHA).

Gwen Williams (Co-Principal Investigator)

Gwen Williams is a Professor in Human Services and the developer and Coordinator of the Certificate of Competence in Substance Use Disorders Counseling Program (CO-SAC/SUDS) at the University of Hawai’i’s Leeward Community College. Her education began at San Mateo Community College in California. Thereafter, she studied at the University of California at Santa Cruz and secured a BA in Psychology and a BA in Environmental Studies. Desiring to attend an MSW program that had a cross-cultural focus, she applied to the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa’s Masters in Social Work program and moved to Hawai’i and specialized in the field of mental/behavioral health. Gwen is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and also holds a Diplomate in Clinical Social Work (DCSW). While her full-time work has been primarily in teaching and coordinating the COSAC/COSUDS program, for decades she has also had a part-time psychotherapy practice. Although her work involved intervention with a multitude of mental and behavioral health conditions, a good amount of her focus has been on healing the trauma from intimate partner physical and sexual violence. She received her Ph.D. in Transformative Learning and Change from California Institute of Integral Studies. She is a student of consciousness and her life’s path has involved engaging in processes and practices that have helped her and others transform and move toward greater wholeness.

Austin Ajimura (Program Specialist)

Austin Ajimura is a graduate of the Master of Public Health program at the Thompson School of Social Work and Public Health, specializing in Social and Behavioral Health Sciences. He earned his BS in Biology and BA in Women’s Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) in 2019. Austin previously worked as a Graduate Research Assistant with the Hawaiʻi Coordinated Access Resource Entry System (CARES), which was a collaboration between UHM and the Hawaiʻi Department of Health to provide crisis, mental health, and substance use support for residents statewide. Austin currently serves as the Patient Advocacy Lead for the Hawaiʻi Houseless Outreach and Medical Education (HOME) Project through the UHM John A. Burns School of Medicine. Austin also works as a Contact Tracing and Community Specialist for the City and County of Honolulu Emergency Services Department, where he contact traces and advocates for our City’s first responders.

Melvin Dizon (Research and Program Assistant)

Melvin Dizon is a medically retired, disabled combat veteran, Philtrophist and Entrepreneur. Heis an undergraduate student triple majoring in Ethnic Studies, Psychology, and Social Work while minoring in Sociology with a concentration in Criminology, Deviance, and Social Control and earning a certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. His goal is to move on to the Master’s of Social Work program and become a Licensed Social Worker while pursuing his Ph.D. in Psychology. He is the current President and webmaster of Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society in the Social Sciences Alpha Chapter. Vice President Mortar Board Senior National Honor Society Hui Po’okela Chapter and Psi Sigma, UH Mānoa’s Psychology Club. The  Senator of the College of Arts and Sciences of Associated Students of the University of Hawaii, Board Member of the Student Activity and Program Fee Board, and lastly, Junior Class Representative of the Bachelor of Social Work Organization.

Constance “Connie” Emory-Khenmy (Program Manager)

Connie is pursuing a PhD in epidemiology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She earned her Masters of Public Health with a specialization in epidemiology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and she earned her bachelor’s in information technology from the University of Hawaiʻi West Oahu. Connie has previous research experience on topics such as mental health and substance use.

Mathew Goldberg (Program Coordinator)

Mat is a Licensed Social Worker who earned his Master’s of Social Work from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Thompson School of Social Work and Public Health. Currently he serves as a Board Member for the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and for Ethnic Education Hawai’i (EEH). He is a former East West Center Graduate Degree Fellow and a former Fulbright grantee in South Korea.

Janette Lee (Research and Program Assistant)

Janette is currently an MSW student at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, who is specializing in Health and a Student Affiliate with the East West Center. She earned her bachelor’s at the University of California, San Diego in Sociocultural Anthropology with a minor in Human Rights in 2016 where she was a presenter at the Undergraduate Research Conference, board member of the Anthropology Club, and a member of the collegiate archery team. After receiving her undergraduate degree, she had been working in non-profit and most recently was a part of the COVID Response Team at a social services organization in Los Angeles.