KKV Senior Staff

Dr. David Derauf, MD, MPH, Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Derauf has been with KKV 1989, starting as KKV's first Clinical Director. He remained in this position until being named as KKV's Executive Director in 2003. Dr. Derauf worked from 1987-1988 as the Assistant Director of Public Health in the Thai Highland Project on the border of Thailand and Burma. He is board certified in General Preventive Medicine. Dr. Derauf has served as Assistant Clinical Professor of Public Health, Medicine, and Nursing at the University of Hawaii. He serves as a board member of the Association of Asian and Pacific Island Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO), the Hawaii Primary Care Association, and Aloha Care, a Hawaii Medicaid Managed Care Corporation, as well as Lawyers for Equal Justice. He is also a member of Na Limahana o Lonopuha, a consortium of Native Hawaiian Health Organizations.

Under Dr. Derauf's leadership, KKV was named a Center of Excellence in Women's health care by the Federal Government in 2002. In 2008, KKV was honored by HRSA with its Special Populations Service Award, recognizing KKV's excellence in service to minority populations.

Yuet Mui Kong, MA, Chief Operations Officer

Mui comes to KKV from the Department of Human Service, Homeless Program Office.  She previously worked for Lanakila Pacific/Lanakila Meals on Wheels as their Operations Manager and served in various positions in Catholic Charities Hawaii:  Director of Developmental Disability Medicaid Waiver Program, Coordinator of Lanakila Multipurpose Senior Center, and Home Study Specialist of Statewide Resource Families Program.  Prior to that, she served as the Assistant Director of Mission to Market for the Girl Scouts of Hawaii.  Mui has a Master’s degree in Human Services Administration from the University of Northern Iowa and also has a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Hong Kong Polytechnic University.  She is trilingual in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.

Chan Hou Lei, Chief Financial Officer

Chan Hou Lei joined KKV in July 2014. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration concentration in Accounting and Finance from the University of Hawaii in 2008. Mr. Lei has more than 12 years of combined accounting and finance experience. Before coming to KKV, he served as senior accountant at a public accounting firm.

Dr. Laura Carr DeVilbiss, MD, MPH, Clinical Director

Laura has been working at KKV for the last 23 years. Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, she received her education at Andover, Princeton, Tulane, and the George Washington School of Medicine.  She joined KKV as a Family Medicine Physician in 1997 as a National Health Service Corps Scholar, finished her three-year service obligation in 2000, and has enjoyed serving KKV’s multi-cultural, multi-lingual ever since.  She became KKV’s Clinical Director in July, 2003 and now enjoys a practice balanced between outpatient, inpatient, obstetric care and administrative duties. Laura’s interest in cross cultural medicine started when she worked as a short-term medical missionary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa, for two years prior to going to medical school. She is a professional member of the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Christian Medical and Dental Association.  She has been active with the Hawaii Academy of Family Physicians, serving in leadership positions on both the HAFP board and the HAFP Foundation board.  She has also served on the boards of three local hospitals.

Dr. Jason Hiramoto, DDS, Dental Director

Jason has been with Kōkua Kalihi Valley for the last twenty-five years. He received his dental training at the University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Dentistry, graduating in 1993. For two years, Jason worked at the Strong-Carter Pediatric Dental Clinic in the low-income community of Kalihi-Pālama. He joined KKV in 1995 as a full-time dentist and was named as Dental Director in July 2004.  He has been voted into Honolulu Magazine’s “Best Dentists” edition multiple times. Jason is an active member of the Network for Oral Health Access, American Dental Association, Hawaii Dental Association and the Honolulu County Dental Society, and is a Clinical Faculty Member with the NYU Langone Health – Advanced Education in General Dentistry, University of Hawaii Dental Hygiene Program, and Kapi‘olani Community College Dental Assisting Program, and an advisor in the PACT Head Start Health Advisory Committee.

Dr. Mya Moe Hla, MD, MSc, MPH, PhD, Behavioral Health Director

After starting her career as a physician practicing in her native Myanmar, Mya obtained her MSc Public Health and MPH from the University of Hawaii, and joined KKV as the Maternal and Child Health Director. While at KKV, she developed a Community Based Perinatal Tobacco Cessation program that has been used as a model by the State of Hawaii to train bi-cultural perinatal and women’s health workers for brief interventions and obtained a PhD in Epidemiology. After fourteen years at KKV, Mya left to pursue a doctorate in Psychiatry. She returned to KKV in 2010 as a practicing Psychiatrist and Behavioral Health Director.

Merlita Compton, MPH, Director Elder Care

Merlita has been with the Elder Care program since 1999 and has been Director since 2014.  Merlita has served on diverse, statewide committees including: Hawaiʻi Healthy Aging Partnership, Hawai’i State’s Mobility Management Task Force, and as advisory council member for the Department of Human Services Senior Companion Program.  She has received numerous awards for her work including the Community Service Award as one of the most visible “champions” for the Hawaiʻi Healthy Aging Partnership, the Erickson Foundation Award for Excellence in Research, and the American Society on Aging’s 2013 Award for Excellence in Multicultural Aging.

Rona Dumagos Mangayayam, Youth Coordinator

Rev. Rona Dumagos Mangayayam was born and raised in Ilocos Sur, Philippines. She received her theological education at Union Theological Seminary in Cavite, Philippines and was ordained in 1996 at Northwest Philippines Annual Conference.  Mona studied at the Southeast Asia Graduate School of Theology (a consortium of theological schools in Southeast Asia) and served as the Assistant to the Bishop of the Baguio Episcopal Area of the Philippines Central Conference for four years before migrating to Hawaii. Since 2009, she has been serving Harris United Methodist Church as the Assistant Pastor.  She has been with KKV since 2019.

Puni Jackson, Program Director Ho’oulu ‘Āina

A Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner, Puni has led endeavors in Hawaiian cultural and ‘āina-based educational programming for over 18 years. Puni is an accomplished kanaka maoli artist known primarily for her large-scale painting and installation work, she has exhibited nationally and internationally. She has been instrumental in establishing Hoʻoulu ʻĀina as a healing refuge for the community and for Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners. She is one of only a few female carvers in Hawai‘i. Puni is also a respected and experienced practitioner of lā’au lāpa‘au medicine and other traditional Native Hawaiian healing arts, including cultural practices around childbirth. Puni participated in creating the Pilinahā framework and has led the preserve’s efforts to increase the sustainability and effectiveness of its programming.

Michael Epp, Collaborative Projects Coordinator

Michael oversees cross-cutting initiatives for KKV, including student engagement programs, research, leadership development, and planning and development.  Michael grew up in Hawaii and began his work in health care at KKV, an urban health center in Honolulu with a large Filipino, Samoan, and Micronesian clientele, where beginning in 1992 he spent eight years focusing on community and resource development.  He then worked for the Hawai'i Primary Care Association, where for five years he assisted in the startup of five new health centers in Hawai’i and a new regional health entity called the Pacific Islands Primary Care Association, which currently serves the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, the Marshall Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands.  He then assumed for seven years the Executive Directorship of the Pacific Island Health Officers Association, a leadership body composed of the Directors and Ministers of Health, Public Health and the Hospitals of these same six Pacific Island nations and territories.   He assisted with the startup of three health centers in Micronesia and has served on the Boards of two health centers in Hawaii, including as Board President for Kokua Kalihi Valley.   

Megan Kiyomi Inada, DrPH, MPH, BS, Research Coordinator

Megan has been with KKV since 2007. From 2016-17 she was the Training and Technical Assistant Director for the Pacific Islands Primary Care Association (PIPCA) and a Community Health Educator for the University of Hawai’i Cancer Center.  Since 2012, she has been a Graduate Research Assistant for the University of Hawai’i Cancer Center focused on exploratory research with Micronesian communities surrounding health communication, knowledge, and beliefs as well as healthcare utilization.  From 2007 to 2012, Megan was the Project Coordinator for KKV’s Adult Smoking Cessation Program.

Innocenta Sound-Kikku, Community Navigator, Pacific Voices

Innocenta “Inno” is a community outreach worker who connects families with needed resources and services. She is a founder, primary mentor and coordinator for Pacific Voices.  Inno cultivates close relationships with community members, who will often go to her for help with accessing necessary resources (healthcare, financial, and legal). Outside of KKV, she is the founder and Vice President of the Micronesian Health Coalition and active as a founding member of other health-promoting community endeavors, such as the “All-Mic” Sports Competition. With over 20 years of experience, Inno is a trusted and respected leader in her Micronesian community.

Kelsey White, MPH, MSW (she/her), Quality Officer

Kelsey is a public health social worker with roots in rural South Carolina. She first connected with KKV in 2022 as a volunteer at Hoʻoulu ʻĀina, and brings over 12 years of experience focused on health equity, migration, and community-building in Latin America and North Carolina. Kelsey holds an MPH in Maternal Child Health and an MSW in Community, Management and Policy Practice from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she also received HRSA-supported training as a Leadership in Public Health Social Work Education Fellow. Most recently, Kelsey coordinated the Immigrant Health Access Project at UNC Greensboro’s Center for New North Carolinians, supporting a team of multilingual Community Health Workers to promote culturally and linguistically responsive care for immigrants and refugees. She is a member of the National Association of Community Health Workers and the Hawai’i Public Health Association, and serves on the board of Mustard Seed Community Health, a neighborhood-based clinic in Greensboro, NC, recognized nationally as a model for integrated care.

Ere’ndira Neri Aldana, Human Resources Manager

Ere’ndira has been with KKV since April 2019. Originally from Mexico City, she is fluent in Spanish. She has a BA in Psychology from California State University, Long Beach, and and MA and PhD in Community Psychology from the University of Hawaii, Manoa. Since 2016, Ere’ndira has been involved in research in public safety and quantitative and qualitative analysis. At KKV, she has worked as an Education and Training Specialist and Volunteer Coordinator, responsible for helping develop, manage and improve staff, student and volunteer engagement.

Brandy Shima, Pharmacy Director

Shima received her Doctor of Pharmacy in 2002 from Creighton University. She was Pharmacy Manager for Pharmacy Partners Hawaii until 2016 and has worked at Synergy MedSolutions, Pharmacy Partners Hawaii, and Pharmacare International since 2018.