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Contact Details

Phone
+64 3 479 4328
Email
jesse.kokaua@otago.ac.nz

University Links

Position
Research Associate Professor
Qualifications
BSc MSc PhD
Research summary
Pacific research

Research

Through his work in the health sector, Jesse was given the opportunity to work on ‘Te Rau Hinengaro: the New Zealand Mental Health Survey. This in turn enabled him to pursue his PhD studies. He highlights the encouragement of one of his supervisors at the time, the late Professor Richie Poulton, who offered him several opportunities to work and collaborate on Dunedin Study and Graduate longitudinal study research projects.

After the completion of his degree, he was employed to do analyses on Health Sciences First Years students at the University of Otago and as an evaluator for Pasifika Futures, the Pacific Whanau Ora Commissioning Agency of Aotearoa. In addition to this, he was given the opportunity to work with the Big Data team for A Better Start National Science Challenge. The combination of those pieces of work inspired his current research programme to investigate children’s health benefits from education in Pacific families. Here Jesse Kokaua analyses patterns and associations within the data through a mixed model statistical / talanoa based research project.

Additional details

Jesse Kokaua moved to Ōtepoti Dunedin with his wife and four children in 1995 to work at the Southern Regional Health Authority and now calls Dunedin his home. His children now live in Ōtepoti / Dunedin with his six grandchildren

Jesse is of Cook Island Māori descent.

Publications

Barrett-Young, A., Cawston, E. E., Ryan, B., Abraham, W. C., Ambler, A., Anderson, T., Cheyne, K., Goodin, E., Hogan, S., … Ireland, D., … Kokaua, J., Melzer, T. R., Ramrakha, S., … Poulton, R., & Theodore, R. (2026). Plasma pTau181 is associated with subjective cognitive concerns but not objective cognitive decline or structural brain integrity measures in midlife. GeroScience. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1007/s11357-026-02282-z Journal - Research Article

Marek, L., Bowden, N., Wiki, J., Kokaua, J., Ruhe, T., Theodore, R., Boden, J., … Hobbs, M. (2026). Interconnected environments and the mental health of young people in Aotearoa New Zealand: A longitudinal geospatial study. Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1038/s41370-026-00914-2 Journal - Research Article

Bakir-Demir, T., Marshall, S., Guiney, H., Moses, L. J., Kokaua, J. J., Salmon, K., Schaughency, E., … Clifford, A., … Reese, E. (2026). Kia Tīmata Pai: Parent- and teacher-reported oral language and self-regulation in a large diverse sample of New Zealand toddlers. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 76, 378-390. doi: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2026.04.002 Journal - Research Article

Thomas, C., Bowden, N., Braund, R., Kokaua, J., Hobbs, M., & Paterson, H. (2026). Pregnancy rates among users of combined oral contraceptives in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2019: A nationwide retrospective cohort study. BMJ Public Health, 4(1), e003252. doi: 10.1136/bmjph-2025-003252 Journal - Research Article

Fitzpatrick, L., Sluyter, J., Kokaua, J., Taylor, T., Ringi, T., Ng Shiu, R., … Tukuitonga, C. (2026). A snapshot of families engaged with Whānau Ora services in Aotearoa New Zealand: A retrospective crosssectional study. New Zealand Medical Journal/Te ara tika o te hauora hapori, 139(1629), 59-68. doi: 10.26635/6965.7000 Journal - Research Article

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