UH Hilo anthropology alumna Marina Foster finds her calling in health research
Now research project coordinator at a Colorado clinic, Marina Foster credits her undergraduate study and research experiences at UH Hilo as building a strong foundation for her current career.
Marina Foster (nee Kelley) already knew what she wanted to study when she graduated from Hilo High School in 2011. She chose the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo for its top-notch anthropology program. Now the research project coordinator at a clinic in Colorado, Foster credits her undergraduate study and research experiences at UH Hilo for building a strong foundation for her current career.
“I cannot say enough wonderful things about what Professor Lynn Morrison and the anthropology department did for my ability to be prepared and trained for what I do now,” says Foster. “There’s so many times where I have thought back to my experiences with them and it’s informed my ability to make certain decisions in the work I do now.”
Anthropology is a diverse discipline with specializations in culture, linguistics, and biology. “Predominantly, [anthropology] is human,” says Foster. “Human interaction, human development. How we become who we are based on environments. It’s really the study of us.”
Foster chose UH Hilo’s medical anthropology track, taking courses on evolutionary medicine and disease development. Senior year she was encouraged by her mentor Prof. Morrison to do a self-directed project. Foster had a single credit left to graduate, and Morrison suggested doing research on a topic of her choice to avoid cramming her schedule with another three-credit course.
This project turned into a 2015 study on natural disasters and the resiliency of the people in Lower Puna on Hawaiʻi Island; the team of researchers examined how households and businesses in the area were recovering from the impact of Tropical Storm Iselle and the Pāhoa lava flow crises, both occurring in 2014. The project received a small grant that allowed Foster to continue working on it after she graduated, conducting qualitative interviews and traveling to conferences. Foster also worked with Prof. Morrison and others on a human–dog health study.
- UH Hilo researchers examine resiliency of Puna community after Iselle and lava flow (UH Hilo Stories, Oct. 13, 2015)
- Published study: Living with natural hazards: Tropical storms, lava flows and the resilience of island residents (International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 2020)
- Published study: Attitude toward Companion and Guard Dogs in Hawaii: Health and Welfare Implications (People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice, 2021)
Both studies increased Foster’s knowledge of study protocol and workflow, consenting processes, and confidentiality.
“[Those projects] very much informed my ability to do what I do today as a full-time research coordinator,” says Foster, now based at the ACUTE Center for Eating Disorders and Severe Malnutrition in Denver, Colorado. “It was a foundation I never knew that I wanted, that I absolutely needed.”
From UH Hilo to health research coordinator
Staying in Hilo following her graduation from UH Hilo in 2015, Foster expanded her skill set through a position with Hope Services Hawaiʻi, rehousing individuals and families without a home. As part of that work, she earned a community health worker certification through Hawaiʻi Community College in 2018.
This led to a move to Colorado, where she was hired at the Denver Health Medical Center in a clerical position, soon realizing this was where she wanted to work long term. That’s when she decided to study and earn a certificate in public health from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, in 2022. “I knew I wanted to work in the health arena but I didn’t want to be a nurse,” she explains. “Public health felt like the most applicable way to do that.”
Her first semester at CU Anschutz had uncanny timing, with Foster taking a course on epidemiology — the study of the spread of diseases — just at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s really interesting when you can really apply what you’re learning to your everyday life,” she observes. She also took courses in biostatistics and community based health, and conducted research while completing her studies.
After earning her public health certification, she negotiated with her employer ACUTE for a permanent research position.
Current work in public health
Foster now works as the only full-time research employee for ACUTE, a thirty-bed medical unit that stabilizes patients too ill to receive regular treatment. “We get the sickest of the sick,” she says.
As ACUTE’s research project coordinator, she manages and develops all new studies from conception to writing the final research manuscript. She assures every study meets the basic criteria for ethics by overseeing consenting, regulatory work, and other tasks. She also manages principal investigators and organizes their work.
Foster is currently recruiting for eight studies and managing twenty studies total. She participates in manuscript writing, which earns her authorship on the clinic’s studies. For example:
- Pelvic Floor Dysfunction in People with Eating Disorders and the Acute Effect of Different Interventions — A Retrospective Cohort Study (Clinical and Experimental Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2024)
Foster credits her time at UH Hilo as a major part of her current work. She notes the most important thing her research with UH Hilo gave her was a sense of confidence and ability to advocate for herself. “I worked for [ACUTE] for four years. I made my own position. I told them I want to work full-time. I’ve run a full study back in Hawaiʻi. I can do more and I’m worth giving that shot to.”
Giving back to her alma mater
Recently Foster gave a video presentation to UH Hilo students in the anthropology capstone course titled, “The Dynamic World of Anthropology” (ANTH 492). Prof. Morrison says the talk “really inspired our anthro majors.”
Foster says it was an interesting experience to be the one providing insight and knowledge.
“It made me really think about my path,” she says. “Although my path feels very linear — I graduated high school, went to college and then found a job — there was so much in between that didn’t necessarily connect to the next piece. But I was able to find my way there.”
Foster encourages anthropology students to explore their options. “Even if you’re not working as an anthropologist after getting a degree, you’re still using that anthropological knowledge. It’s okay to explore other opportunities and other options, because that’s how we find passions, is by letting things develop.”
Foster says this is the foundational value of an anthropology degree.
“Anthropology sounds like a really niche degree, like you can’t do much. But I learned so much from that degree that I apply to the work that I do with patients now and how I approach the medicine that we do.”
Story by Sophia Kim-O’Sullivan, a graduate student in library science and information at UH Mānoa.
