Ku‘upua Akana, PharmD, BCACP

Dr. Pua Akana is a Board-Certified Ambulatory Care Pharmacist, the Director of Pharmacy and the Chief Operations Officer at Wahiawā Health. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Dental Hygiene, with a minor in Business Management, from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and later returned to school to pursue her Doctorate in Pharmacy from the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo School of Pharmacy.

In 2011, Dr. Akana began her career as a clinical pharmacist at Wai‘anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, where she played a pivotal role in developing and establishing an outpatient anticoagulation clinic. Dr. Akana was honored by the Hawai‘i Pharmacists Association as Young Distinguished Pharmacist of the Year in both 2012 and 2018. Driven by a deep passion for serving underserved communities, she is committed to improving access to medications and healthcare outcomes.

In 2021, Dr. Akana joined Wahiawā Health as the Director of Pharmacy, where she established the pharmacy and clinical pharmacy services department with a focus on improving medication adherence for patients with diabetes and hypertension through an integrated team approach. By fostering collaboration across multiple disciplines, the team works to address health barriers, ensuring better access to care and enhanced outcomes for the community. This innovative approach led Wahiawā Health to receive the Innovations Care Award in 2022 from BD Helping Build Healthy Communities, and the initiative was featured in the August 2022, Journal of the American College of Pharmacy under the title “Expanding Comprehensive Medication Management Considerations to Include Responses to Social Determinants of Health.”

In addition, Dr. Akana manages the health centers grant programs and continues to secure funding through grant writing to support the health center’s mission.