Dr. Waitzfelder is currently Co-Principal Investigator on Translating Research Into Action for Diabetes (TRIAD), a study in which PHRI is collaborating with five other research centers across the nation to identify processes within managed care settings that improve the quality of care and outcomes for people with diabetes. A sociologist, Dr. Waitzfelder is also a Co-Investigator of the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study, a multi-center epidemiological study aimed at better defining the characteristics of diabetes in children and youth, and chairs the Quality of Care Committee for this study. Dr. Waitzfelder is also Project Director of the Hawaii Diabetes Data Network, a collaboration of Hawaii health care organizations and other diabetes stakeholders that has developed a single, comprehensive, statewide diabetes database to support more accurate epidemiological assessments, measures of quality of care and disparities throughout the State, measurement of service utilization, associated costs, and other research studies. Other current projects include serving as a Co-Investigator for the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) to study barriers to follow-up care after abnormal cancer screening tests.

Dr. Waitzfelder’s primary research interests include quality of care for adults and children, primarily in the area of diabetes, social, cultural and economic disparities in health care and outcomes, and mental health, particularly with co-morbid chronic illness. Prior to coming to Hawaii, Dr. Waitzfelder was the Assistant Director of Research and Evaluation at a psychiatric center in New York, serving a patient population of more than 400 inpatients and 5000 outpatients. She received her B.A. and M.A. in Sociology from the State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, and her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality.