Program Director from the National Cancer Institute Richard Moser (center) met with Senior Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs Dr. Anita Borja Enriquez, CLASS Associate Professor Dr. Lilnabeth Somera, and Dean of the School of Health Dr. Margaret Hattori-Uchima during his visit to Guam.

Richard Moser, program director of the Behavioral Research Program’s Science of Research and Technology Branch at the National Cancer Institute, will discuss survey methods and share insight on the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). The presentation will be held on July 22 at 3p.m. in the Professional Development Room of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Dean’s Office.

Moser, who among other titles also serves as the HINTS data coordinator, is visiting Guam on sabbatical while working on two pilot projects with College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Associate Professor Dr. Lilnabeth Somera. These projects titled “Health Information Trends and Needs in the Pacific: A Test of the Respondent-Driven Sampling Method” and “Health Information Patterns Among Pacific Youth” are both funded by the U54 grant and focus on comparing local and national data in hopes of producing more studies of health information patterns in Guam, Somera said.  

“His presentation on cutting-edge research methods and HINTS will be useful to local researchers,” Somera said. “Recent Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System results for Guam suggest that efforts to encourage healthier lifestyles are not as effective as they should be. So insight on health information trends will give us a better sense of how our heath information patterns compare to the national trends and can impact our strategies for public health campaigns.”