Ku'upua (Pua) Akana Pharm D, BC-ACP

As a Board-Certified Ambulatory Care Pharmacist, Dr. Pua Akana’s passion for serving people, particularly in the underserved, Native Hawaiians, Asians, and the Pacific Islander communities, drives her enthusiasm to improve access to medications, reduce care fragmentation and improve healthcare outcomes. Dr. Akana serves as Director of Pharmacy and Chief Operations Officer at Wahiawa Health where she established a comprehensive medication therapy management program that addresses medication adherence in patients with uncontrolled diabetes and hypertension through an integrated team approach and addresses social determinants of health (SDOH). This program helped establish Wahiawa Health’s clinical pharmacy services department, which has expanded to a CDC recognized Diabetes Prevention Program and ADCES Diabetes Self-Management accreditation as well as development of a tobacco cessation program. Her current focus as Chief Operations Officer involves developing a patient centered primary care and specialty care team model that addresses chronic disease management, SDOH, cultural safety and cultural humility.