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Contact Details

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

Ataera-Minster, J., Every-Palmer, S., Cunningham, R., & Kokaua, J. (2025). Common mental disorders and psychological distress among Pacific adults living in Aotearoa New Zealand. New Zealand Medical Journal/Te ara tika o te hauora hapori, 138(1613), 36-49. Retrieved from https://www.nzmj.org.nz/ Journal - Research Article

Barrett-Young, A., Reuben, A., Caspi, A., Cheyne, K., Ireland, D., Kokaua, J., Ramrakha, S., … Theodore, R., Wilson, G., … Moffitt, T. (2025). Measures of retinal health successfully capture risk for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias at midlife. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/13872877251321114 Journal - Research Article

Ataera-Minster, J., Every-Palmer, S., Cunningham, R., & Kokaua, J. (2024). Psychological distress and diagnosed mood and anxiety disorders in Pacific adults: A pooled analysis of five consecutive New Zealand Health Survey years. Kōtuitui. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/1177083X.2024.2435453 Journal - Research Article

Kokaua, J. (2024, November). Va'a o Tautai Pacific group: Pacific Big Data autism. Verbal presentation at the Paediatric Society of New Zealand Te Kāhui Mātai Arotamariki o Aotearoa (PSNZ) 75th Annual Meeting, Dunedin, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Ruhe, T., Marek, L., Bowden, N., Wiki, J., Theodore, R., Hobbs, M., Thabrew, H., Richards, R., Milne, B., Hetrick, S., Boden, J., & Kokaua, J. (2024). The natural and built environments where Pacific children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand live: A nationwide cross-sectional geospatial study. New Zealand Population Review, 50, 99-124. Retrieved from https://population.org.nz/journal/ Journal - Research Article

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