Jessica Yamauchi, MA, (Speech) Communicology, 1998 and BA (Speech) Communicology (1994) is the Chief Executive Officer of the Hawai‘i Public Health Institute (HIPHI). Jessica Yamauchi has been a true leader in the community, working for the betterment of all those who call Hawai‘i home.
Since assuming the CEO position at HIPHI in 2012, Jessica has overseen the re-branding and expansion of the mission and work of the organization from the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaiʻi to the Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute. While initially focused on tobacco prevention, HIPHI now works on numerous issues that impact health which included responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under Jessica’s leadership, HIPHI secured formal recognition as a member of the National Network of Public Health Institutes, expanded the organization from 10 to over 50 employees and now oversees an operating budget that grew from $1 million to nearly $8 million dollars annually.
During her tenure, Jessica has worked to pass several health policies, including raising the age of sale of tobacco and electronic smoking device products to 21, in Hawai‘i’s state smoke-free air law (the first state in the nation to do so!). Jessica also led the “healthy by default” campaign, which now requires children’s meals to be offered with a healthy beverage as the default. She helped to secure funding for Da Bux – a program which increases fresh local produce for SNAP recipients and supported efforts to reinstate adult dental benefits for Medicaid enrollees. Under Jessica’s leadership, HIPHI worked to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by providing up-to-date information to the community through weekly eblasts, webinars, and educational materials for partners and community health workers, provided policy recommendations to government officials, assisted with the distribution of CARES funds for meals and wrap-around social services for kūpuna, and assisted with vaccine equity efforts. For her work with HIPHI, Jessica (and HIPHI) was awarded HIPHI’s Public Health Hero award in 2020, Hawai’i Community Foundation’s Ho’okele award in 2019, and The American Diabetes Association’s Raise Voice Award in 2019.
Even before her position at HIPHI, Jessica had been actively working on public health campaigns targeting tobacco usage, helping to keep our airways clean. From 1999-2001 she worked with the University of Hawai‘i Cancer Center as a project coordinator overseeing a million-dollar grant for creating an innovative tobacco prevention program for middle school students. She followed this by working for UH’s Department of Public Health as an evaluation project director for the Healthy Hawai‘i Initiative from 2001-2003.
When asked what motivated her to pursue this ambitious and honorable work in public health, she said the work found her. “I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do when I first started the master’s program at UH in the speech department, but after working under (former COMG faculty member) Dr. Renee Klingle on the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Use Survey, I developed a keen interest in Health Communication. I feel incredibly lucky to merge my education and experience into my work and to have the opportunity to work on issues I’m passionate about.”
Jessica has been very active in the community throughout her career. She served as the co-chair of the Statewide Obesity Prevention Task Force, was a member of the State Climate Change Task Force, is a board member of the National Network of Public Health Institutes, past advisory board member for Ola Hawai‘i, vice president of Hawai’i Public Health Association, has been an editor for Hawai‘i Journal of Health & Social Welfare, and editorial member for the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice, among many other professional and community affiliations. Her service has also extended back to the University of Hawai’i by currently being part of the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health Dean’s Advisory Council and our very own School of Communication and Information’s Community Advisory Board.
Jessica Yamauchi has been a leader in Hawai’i’s public health sector and instrumental in our community. She has shown her dedication to serving the people of Hawai’i and is held in high regard by those who know her. Jessica continues to serve and represent this university and us in SCI as well, and we are very fortunate to have her making a healthier Hawai’i for ourselves, our families and friends, and those who will call Hawai’i home in the future.