Born and raised just outside of Cleveland, Ohio, Joanne R. Loos, PhD grew up the child of Filipino immigrants. She learned from a young age the values of giving back to the community and appreciating what you have.
Dr. J, as her students call her, began her professional career as a journalist. Her writing allowed her to cover topics ranging from reptiles and brackish fish to home renovations and profiles of prominent business leaders. Her recent work includes editing the autobiography of the founder of an international restaurant chain and contributing to instructor materials for higher education textbooks.
While working as a journalist, Dr. J returned to academia to earn graduate degrees and hone her skills in research. Since then, Dr. J has worked as a science writer and lecturer at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, for the School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene (SONDH) and the School of Communication and Information (SCI), respectively.
As a science writer, Dr. J couples her skills as a journalist and as a researcher to get research written and published in scholarly journals and relevant outlets. She also works on analyzing data, creating presentations, and coming up with strategies for communicating with various publics. She is actively harnessing skills as a grant writer through practice and coursework so that she can collaboratively develop grant proposals for the school. She keeps a pulse on her research interests by exploring information technology and health, while also branching out to other areas such as interprofessional education and simulation.
An award-winning educator, Dr. J incorporates current events into her teaching and engages with students by getting to know them and tailoring her teaching accordingly. She believes in harnessing the potential of the next generation to effect positive changes in policy, health, digital cultures, and elsewhere.