In an effort to improve the health and well-being of Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders and Filipinos, university and community leaders have partnered to establish a new center.
The Center for Pacific Innovations, Knowledge and Opportunities, recently jump-started by a $15 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, is a collaboration among the University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine, Chaminade University, Hawaii Pacific University and several community organizations.
The initiative seeks to research and find innovative ways to improve the health of underserved populations, along with mentoring the next generation of scientists who come from communities of color, said Joseph Keawe‘aimoku Kaholokula, chairman of Native Hawaiian health at JABSOM, who will lead the center with Dr. Neal Palafox, professor of family medicine and community health at the medical school.
Kaholokula said researchers who are rooted in their communities and cultures bring different perspectives needed to tackle certain chronic conditions and long- standing health disparities. Some examples of projects they plan to work on at the center include addressing diabetes and heart disease and looking at the effects of policy on underserved communities. Although the grant will run for five years, Kaholokula said they plan to apply for more funding so the center can live on.
“Our communities are asking to grow their own researchers who can work with them and be sensitive to their concerns. Here’s an opportunity (to do that),” he said. “We’ve been very successful in securing federal funding for basic science and for certain types of clinical resources, but we really need to focus on research that can be transferred into our communities. We’re hoping that by doing this we have more sustainable solutions.”
Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders make up about 10.8% of the state’s population, according to census data released in August. Filipinos are counted in the Asian demographic, which is 37.2% of Hawaii’s population. Research shows that NHPIs and Filipinos have disproportionately higher rates of chronic conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, compared with other ethnic groups.
Adrienne Dillard, executive director of Kula no na Po‘e Hawaii, a nonprofit that provides education and health services to the Papakolea, Kewalo and Kalawahine Hawaiian homesteads, said it has partnered with JABSOM for more than 15 years and will continue building on that work as one of the center’s community partners. Other partners include Papa Ola Lokahi and The Queen’s Medical Center.
She said approaching the health and well-being of communities of color sometimes takes a different lens. Looking at social determinants of health, including education, income and employment, as well as how to incorporate culture into research, are key, she said. As part of the partnership, Dillard said she also hopes researchers find ways to alleviate chronic conditions as well as help kupuna live more comfortably and age in place.
Dillard also said communities need to be part of the solution and work hand-in-hand with researchers. She pointed out that the creation of the center comes at a pivotal time when NHPI and Filipino communities are grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, and hopes their partnership will help plan for the road to recovery.
“If you start your research from a lens of understanding the people and culture versus a person just coming in and not knowing the people you’re trying to help … it gives you a jump forward with this group and in this space,” she said. “We can’t continue to see the same determinants not being addressed. We have to begin looking at understanding them in a different way.”
———
Jayna Omaye covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.
