NW PCI Annual Conference 2021

Robert H. Coker, PhD, FACSM, FTOS

Dr. Coker received his PhD in Exercise Science from the University of Mississippi and completed research fellowships in Molecular Physiology and Clinical Physiology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and the Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark, respectively. He has studied the regulation of metabolism during hypoglycemia, diabetes, obesity and bed rest in humans throughout his career.

Previously affiliated with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences for over a decade, Dr. Coker joined the faculty in the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks to establish a program in Translational Biomedicine. As part of his passion to translate his research in clinical nutrition, he co-founded Essential Blends, LLC that has led the state of Alaska in Small Business grants from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Coker’s research interests also include environmental physiology and occupational resilience. He is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and The Obesity Society and was inducted into the Alaska Innovators Hall of Fame in 2020.

Keith Norris, MD, PhD

Bio to come

Eun-Jeong Lee, PhD

Dr. Lee is the founding president of the Asian American Resources and Information Network (AARIN), a nonprofit organization that promotes community-based participatory research, develop research-based practices, and provide resources and information in Asian communities. In the past 25 years, Dr. Lee has accumulated extensive experience in serving older adults, women, the disabled, children, and victims of domestic violence through social services, program development, nonprofit management, and research. Prior to AARIN, she served as the Executive Director of the Korean American Scholarship Foundation which is the national nonprofit organization to serve college-aged Korean American descendants in need to support their academic and personal achievements. Previously, she served as National Director of the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging in Seattle, WA and managed a federally funded employment program for low-income older adults in 7 states. In addition, Dr. Lee collaborated with academic institutes to conduct research studies about financial well-being, elder mistreatment, caregiver, and heart health in Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. One of her initiatives developed on evidence-based research, called “Healthy Eating Healthy Aging”, was recognized as innovative and awarded by the American Society on Aging (ASA) and Asian Pacific Islander Caucus for Public Health’s Community Organization Recognition Award (CORA).

Dr. Lee holds a B.A. in journalism and mass communication and an M.P.A. in social work policy from Hanyang University in Korea as well as a Ph.D. in Social Welfare from Yeshiva University in New York.