Professional Experience

 

Wendy Yamamoto Suetsugu, JD, MSN, RN, is an experienced nurse and attorney.  She is a past executive director of the Hawai‘i State Center for Nursing, an organization that collects and disseminates nursing workforce data in Hawai‘i, supports recruitment and retention of nurses, and conducts research on best practices and quality care outcomes. The Center is located at the UH Manoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, and has an advisory board appointed by the Governor.

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Wendy was previously the director of clinical operations in the Department of OB/GYN and Women’s Health at University Clinical Education Research Associates.  Wendy has also served as a clinical instructor of nursing at the University of Hawaii and as an instructor on medico-legal issues at the University of Phoenix's Honolulu campus.  She has worked as a labor and delivery nurse and an operating room nurse at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, and has also been employed by the State of Washington as a nursing home surveyor monitoring Medicare and Medicaid compliance. 

 

In the legal arena, Wendy practiced law at Robbins & Associates, where she drew upon her extensive clinical background and expertise in defending health care providers against allegations of medical malpractice.  Wendy now brings her unique skill set, insights, and analysis to Ota & Hara as an attorney of counsel to the firm, with a concentration in medicolegal litigation and consulting.