Partnerships and a $15M Grant to Improve Health and Wellbeing in Hawai'i

$15 MILLION GRANT AND PARTNERSHIP TO IMPROVE HEALTH AND WELLBEING

IN HAWAI'I RESEARCH HAS SHOWN NATIVE HAWAIIANS, PACIFIC ISLANDERS, FILIPINOS AND OTHER MEDICALLY UNDERSERVED POPULATIONS IN HAWAI'I HAVE

DISPROPORTIONATELY HIGHER RATES OF PHYSICAL AILMENTS AND MENTAL

HEALTH CONDITIONS. THE PANDEMIC HAS ONLY EXACERBATED THOSE

ISSUES—AND SPOTLIGHTED A LACK OF COMMUNITY RESOURCES.

ADDRESSING THESE HEALTH DISPARITIES WILL REQUIRE EVERYONE’S HELP.

That’s exactly the idea behind the newly formed Center for Pacific Innovations, Knowledge and Opportunities (PIKO)—an innovative collaboration of Hawai'i universities, including Chaminade, and organizations that will support critical areas of study and seek to turn research into positive change.

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences awarded the University of Hawai'i PIKO a five-year, $15 million grant in which Chaminade University is a partner of the initiative. The funds will be distributed to researchers, especially those at the beginning of their careers, but will also go to professional development opportunities, outreach programming, and other opportunities.

The PIKO partnership includes the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Chaminade University and Hawai'i Pacific University— along with the statewide network of organizations. PIKO is led by two UH professors: Dr. Joseph Keawe'aimoku Kaholokula, who is chair of Native Hawaiian Health, and Dr. Neal Palafox, whose focus at the John A. Burns School of Medicine includes community health.

Kaholokula said PIKO is focused on improving the health and wellbeing of Hawai'i’s people and supporting new research. “This is an unprecedented partnership and initiative in Hawai'i to support talented junior researchers in doing culturally responsive and community-engaged research,” he said.

Faculty from Chaminade University who are part of this PIKO project include: • Dr. Jonathan Baker, assistant professor of Biology, who is one of the leads for tracking and evaluating the grant; • Dr. Rylan Chong, assistant professor of

Data Science, who is the data science lead for the biostatistics, epidemiology and research design core; and • Dr. Claire Wright, an associate professor of Biology at Chaminade, who is the lead overseeing the grant distribution and broadening the center’s reach.

Dr. Wright said the pandemic has magnified the impacts of health disparities in underserved communities and underscored the need for action-oriented research.

“With this grant, we really wanted to focus on where the rubber meets the road,” she said.

In particular, the center and its partnering institutions will be working to recruit and fund more emerging researchers who come from the communities they hope to serve—and give them support along the way. There is also a strong emphasis on engaging community members, Wright said, by partnering with them for research projects and then communicating the results.

She added the center’s goals and the overall grant align with Chaminade’s mission to help build stronger, more resilient communities and to support projects that pursue social justice, peace and equity. “There are a lot of positive impacts you can make in this type of research,” Wright said.

Funding for the first year of the grant is already rolling out, and projects for year two are being sought.

Wright said a call for abstracts was set for December.

She added that she’s optimistic about the positive impact the collaboration is poised to bring about and excited about the prospect of helping to develop more researchers—across a variety of disciplines—who are focused on addressing health disparities. Those researchers will in turn serve as mentors.

“At Chaminade, we have a close relationship with our students,” Wright said. “To be able to show more faculty entrenched in this kind of research, showing their students how they can help with their community, that’s a massive win for Chaminade and for changing their perspectives.”