We are deeply invested in building the next generation of scientists and physicians — and we back that up with action. Dr. Stokes has personally mentored 176 undergraduate research projects across NIH, NSF, and DOD-funded programs, and approximately 276 research-style projects through course-embedded experiences. The teaching approach emphasizes inclusive pedagogy, critical thinking, and research independence: students learn to translate interests into defensible questions, evaluate evidence, and communicate results to diverse audiences. More than $11M in NSF and NIH funding supports the education portfolio.

• Post-Bacc Premedical Sciences — Dr. Stokes conceived, designed, and launched this JABSOM program, the first of its kind at the medical school. Opens doors for career-changers, returning students, and non-traditional learners. Inaugural cohort Fall 2026. premed.science
• S-STEM Bioscience Scholarships ($1.5M NSF) — Integrates professional data science preparation into bioscience student retention and graduation
• ALL-SPICE ($8.5M NSF INCLUDES) — Develops regional data science capacity for sustainability, economic development, and social justice across the Pacific
• JADE ($350K NSF) — Pioneered justice-oriented approaches to data science education
• AIM-AHEAD HEART ($135K NIH) — Upskilled students across the Pacific in AI/ML for health equity
• SCIPE ($6.5M NSF, 2024–2029) — Education and cyberinfrastructure workforce development. Shared-capacity model for CI research support, training, and skills development across Hawaiʻi and Guam
• Navigator Roles — Grounded in social ecological models and Pacific epistemology to support STEM student success
• Board of Regents Medal for Excellence in Teaching (2023) — Nominated 33 times, the most received by anyone at JABSOM. Course evaluations average 4.87/5.0 across all years
• OVPRS Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research (2026, nominated) — 176 documented undergraduate research projects mentored across NIH AIM-AHEAD, NSF CITRACS, NSF SCIPE, NSF S-STEM STRIDE, AFRL, and NSF INCLUDES ALL-SPICE programs
• ZOO 432 Comparative Physiology — Completely redesigned upper-division course. Inquiry-based, project-driven, with a capstone ‘designer organism’ challenge. Consistently oversubscribed. Students design alien organisms, debate the rules of life, and take field trips to the zoo
• Inclusive Pedagogy — NSF-trained (BSCER, Inclusive STEM Education Institute). Cumulative grading, active learning, counter-stereotypical role models, bias reduction. Classrooms that honor student voice and reject ‘sink-or-swim’ gatekeeping
• Graduate Courses Developed — MBBE 691 Experimental Techniques & Bioinformatics; CMB 621 Cardiovascular Pathology module; STM 604 Technology Transfer & Commercialization (Chaminade MBA)
• Graduate Mentoring — Primary supervisor for 3 MS and 5 Ph.D. students. Graduates placed at NIH, West Point, University of Alaska, Cardax, Novo Nordisk, Roswell Park, and JABSOM MD program

Every translational program in the laboratory grows from a single root: understanding how ion channels convert the physical and chemical world into cellular decisions. We study TRP channels — molecular sensors that open and close in response to temperature, pressure, and signaling molecules.

• Two seminal Nature papers revealed TRPM7 (Mg·ATP-regulated) and TRPM2 (ADP-ribose-gated) — channels cells require to stay alive
• TRPV2 forms a physiological complex with RGA protein that promotes surface expression (J. Cell. Biochem.)
• TRPA1 is a substrate for de-ubiquitination by tumor suppressor CYLD (Cell. Signal.)
• TPCN1 interacts with citron kinase to regulate cytokinesis (Channels)
• TRPV1 and TRPV2 signaling mapped in mast cells, cardiomyocytes, and pancreatic β-cells

Heart failure affects over 6 million Americans, and available drugs only slow the decline. We asked a different question: could an ion channel best known for sensing chili-pepper heat actually drive the heart to fail? The answer transformed TRPV1 into a billion-dollar cardiovascular opportunity.

• Mice lacking functional TRPV1 are protected from pressure-overload cardiac hypertrophy (Channels, 2011)
• Orally delivered TRPV1 antagonist BCTC longitudinally reverses heart failure in vivo (Channels, 2013)
• TRPV1 is a physical component of the atrial natriuretic peptide signaling complex (Channels, 2019)
• The widely-used W-sh mast cell-deficient mouse carries a previously unrecognized corin deficiency — a finding with major implications for anyone using this model to study cardiac function, mast cell loss, or immune-cardiovascular crosstalk (Regul. Pept.). Separately, Orai1 was shown to be a crucial component of hypertrophic compensation, with Orai1-deficient animals developing dilated cardiomyopathy (Channels)
• Independent human proof-of-mechanism: Pila Pharma Phase 2a shows TRPV1 antagonist reduces ANP
• US Patent 9,084,786 (2015) and US 12,403,139 (2025) — Makai Biotechnology founded for clinical development

Cancer immunology increasingly recognizes that ion channels sit at critical decision points in the immune response. We investigate the channels and receptors that control whether immune cells attack, tolerate, or communicate with tumors.

• TMC protein family in HPV-driven epidermodysplasia verruciformis and progression to squamous cell carcinoma (Oncoimmunology)
• Mast cell phosphatidylserine asymmetry during activation (Bioarchitecture)
• Calcium-dependent large plasma membrane bleb formation (J. Extracellular Vesicles)
• Single-walled carbon nanotube effects on receptor-mediated signaling (Toxicology Letters)
• Differential CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptor roles in mast cell immune function (J. Immunol.)

Type 2 diabetes affects nearly half a billion people worldwide, yet the ion channel wiring inside insulin-secreting cells remains poorly understood. We discovered that TRPM4 is a gatekeeper of insulin release — and that chronic insulin exposure fundamentally rewires immune cell metabolism.

• TRPM4 controls insulin secretion in pancreatic β-cells (Cell Calcium)
• Chronic insulin induces transcriptional and functional plasticity in mast cells (J. Immunobiology)
• Lipid body accumulation and extensive lipid remodeling accompany insulin exposure (Adipocyte)
• Lipid body accumulation itself alters calcium signaling dynamics — a feedback mechanism connecting metabolic stress to immune dysregulation

For thousands of years, Pacific and global cultures have used complex plant mixtures as medicine — but modern drug development insists on single molecules. Our patented PHAROS platform bridges this gap, computationally assembling meta-pharmacopeias from non-western medical systems.

• PHAROS (WO 2022/081889) identifies minimum essential therapeutic mixtures that outperform any single ingredient
• Cannabis-derived formulations designed for Parkinson’s disease (Frontiers in Pharmacology)
• Myrcene and terpenes regulate TRPV1 via ligand-based desensitization (Channels)
• Pacific ‘Awa (kava) extracts show differential calcium signaling regulation (Phytotherapy Research)
• Sex as a biological variable in phytomedicine research (Heliyon, 2025)

Health inequity is not just a social problem — it is a data problem. As Associate Director of the Hawaiʻi Data Science Institute (HI-DSI) and Principal Investigator of multiple NIH AIM-AHEAD awards, we build machine learning systems that expose disparities hidden in millions of medical records, develop data science training programs that reach hundreds of students across the Pacific, and create tools and infrastructure that make data-driven decision making accessible to researchers, clinicians, and communities.

• ML pipeline analyzed 3.42 million EHR patients in ADVANCE/PCORnet (AUROC 0.8323) to identify under-diagnosed Klinefelter Syndrome
• AI Resource Concierge ($1M NIH DICB) provides Hawaiʻi’s healthcare ecosystem with curated AI tools
• Substance abuse trajectory analysis integrating federal and local data
• Landmark Nature (2024) publication exposed systemic biases creating an intersex research void affecting 188 million people
• NIH SGM Health Scientific Interest Group member
• Hawaiʻi Data Science Institute — Associate Director (2022–present). UH System-wide hub for data science education, collaborative research, and industry partnerships. Fellows Coordinator (2019–2022). Co-PI on AI @ HI-DSI Fellows program training next-generation data scientists
• DataSkills Training — Designed and delivered self-paced data science modules adopted across NSF SCIPE, EPSCoR Change Hawaiʻi, S-STEM STRIDE, and ALL-SPICE programs. Hundreds of students served with >90% completion rates. Model propagated nationally through multiple NSF and DOD programs
• AI Resource Concierge ($1M NIH DICB) — Providing Hawaiʻi’s healthcare ecosystem with curated AI tools and resources for clinical and research applications
• Cross-Cutting Student Projects — 36 undergraduate data science capstones through CITRACS (climate, environment, health equity); 10 through SCIPE (CI workflows, dashboards, forecasting); 13 through AIM-AHEAD HEART (health equity); 98 through ALL-SPICE (Pacific-wide). Topics range from coral reef GIS mapping to wildfire health impacts to protein language models
• Industry & Community — Secured HI-DSI’s first professional upskilling contract (Kamehameha Schools). Data science enrichment programs designed to serve marginalized and non-traditional students with >90% completion
• ARCH.health — AI Resource Concierge platform including FISMA compliance tools, FDA SaMD guidance, and curated AI/ML resources for Hawaiʻi’s health ecosystem

The Pacific faces unique challenges — geographic isolation and a growing need for climate resilience — that demand data science capacity and trained researchers. Dr. Stokes contributes to major NSF investments addressing these challenges through workforce development, curriculum design, and cyberinfrastructure training.

• SCIPE ($6.5M NSF, 2024–2029) — Education and cyberinfrastructure workforce development. Building a shared-capacity model for CI research support, training, and skills development across Hawaiʻi and Guam
• Change Hawaiʻi / EPSCoR ($20M NSF RII Track-1, 2022–2027) — Workforce development and curriculum development lead. The largest single NSF award in state history
• CITRACS / CyberTraining ($1M NSF, 2021–2024) — PI. Climate and cyberinfrastructure. Trained environmental and climate scientists in CI, HPC, and open science practices
• Pacific Excellence in Analytics ($1M NSF) — Scholarships for Pacific students solving regional problems with data

Intersex people — those whose biology does not fit neatly into a male-female binary — make up nearly 2% of the global population, yet remain almost invisible in biomedical research. We are building the first population-scale picture of intersex health.

• Landmark Nature (2024) publication exposed systemic biases in research design, funding, and clinical practice
• NIH AIM-AHEAD Pilot ($299K) developed AI/ML tools to recognize clinical indicators of intersex conditions
• Gender dysphoria preceding intersex recognition demonstrates biophysiological basis for sex identity (under review, Nature Communications)
• Cancer incidence and hormone therapy studies (submitted NEJM)
• Coordinated with interACT and InterConnect — the two largest intersex advocacy organizations

Discovery means nothing if it never reaches patients, students, or communities. We translate laboratory findings into companies, patents, and products that change lives.

• Makai Biotechnology — Cardiovascular therapeutics from TRPV1 heart failure patents. Independent human proof-of-mechanism confirmed (Pila Pharma Phase 2a). US Patent 12,403,139 issued 2025
• LUSH.AI — Immersive data visualization (US Patent 2019/0362216)
• 4 patents spanning ion channel therapeutics, AI systems, vaccine production, and phytomedicine analytics
• National Academy of Inventors member (2015)
• UH Venture Competition coach and judge · Chaminade University MBA: Technology Transfer and Commercialization