Our Founder
"When research reflects the real world, it can heal more people."
Bella Tukuafu Johnson
Founder & CEO
MEET OUR FOUNDER
Bella Tukuafu Johnson
Founder & CEO
Bella Tukuafu Johnson, Founder and CEO of Kalo Clinical Research, brings over 25 years of experience in health research. She has served at the University of Utah and the Huntsman Cancer Institute, and founded Kalo with a clear vision: to ensure that all communities are represented and included in medical research. Fluent in Spanish, Bella enjoys spending time with her husband, Floyd, and their six children. She has a love for passion fruit, TED Talks, and competitive card and board games.
We're here to help create medicine made for us all.
A Pacific Islander and nationally respected research leader, Bella Tukuafu Johnson built Kalo to make research more equitable and human. With 25 years of experience, a powerful cultural lens, and unwavering ethics, she leads a team that puts people first—without compromising quality.
Kalo began as a small site with a big vision: to protect dignity, expand access, and restore trust in clinical research.
Through financial hardship, systemic inequities, and a global pandemic, we held our center. We kept going because the people who need research the most are often the ones left out of it.
Kalo exists to change that.
ROOTED IN CULTURE
From Hawai‘i to Utah
—From Tradition to Innovation
Bella’s journey spans rural Hawai‘i, underserved clinics in Texas, and 25+ years of investigator-led research. Her perspective shapes everything we do—from how we speak to our patients to how we partner with sponsors.
We walk with the system—but lead with integrity, empathy, and people first.
Our West Valley clinic sits on the ancestral lands of the Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute, and Ute Tribes.
We honor that legacy by connecting today’s underrepresented communities—Pacific Islanders, Hispanic, and beyond—with the medicine of tomorrow.
Because when research reflects the real world, it can heal more people.
Bella and her siblings and parents in Hawai'i.
Bella and her husband with their six children.