Hawaiʻi has been involved with the STEP-UP Program since 2001 under the direction of Dr. George Hui. Students from all islands of Hawaii are encouraged to apply. Seleceted interns will be paired with an experienced research mentor who is affiliated with their designated institution.
Dr. Hui is a Research Professor at the University of Hawaiʻi. His research interests involve the development of vaccines against human malaria, the immunology of malaria infections, and the immunological mechanisms of action of vaccine adjuvants. Although Dr. Hui’s research and funding support fall under NIAID/NIH, Dr. Hui has been involved with NIDDK/NIH’s initiatives to support research training of high school students since 2002. He has coordinated training activities for high school students from Hawaiʻi under NIDDK/C. Drew University and has been responsible for organizing the NIDDK STEP-UP program for students in Hawaiʻi, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and the US Affiliated Pacific Islands of Guam, American Samoa, the Republic of Palau, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia.
Dr. Danielle Clements Jansen
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Dr. Danielle Clements Jansen is an Instructor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and an Affiliate Assistant Professor at the John A. Burns School of Medicine. Dr. Jansen obtained her masters and PhD from the Department of Tropical Medicine at the John A. Burns School of Medicine with research focusing on malaria vaccine development, HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders and immunological approaches to treating HTLV-1 infection. She previously served as the Program Coordinator for Pacific STEP-UP from 2012-2016 and was involved in the laboratory research capacity building at several STEP-UP partnering institutions in the Pacific.
