Joseph Keawe'aimoku Kaholokula, PhD, is a tenured professor and chair of Native Hawaiian Health in the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and a licensed clinical health psychologist. In this role, he has realized his vision of increasing funding, and positions for health psychologists on faculty in the school of medicine contributing to medical education, and clinical research.
As a translational behavioral scientist, he has led multiple, federally funded research projects over the past two decades to explain, prevent, or treat cardiometabolic-related medical conditions in Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders to achieve health equity. He is the lead co-principal investigator for the Pacific Innovations, Knowledge, and Opportunities (PIKO) Clinical and Translational Research Center, whose mission is to improve the health and well-being of Indigenous Pacific People and other medically underserved populations in Hawai‘i. Kaholokula has developed national and international research training programs with colleagues to support Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and other science-underrepresented students, post-doctoral fellows, and junior faculty pursuing a health science research career. Kaholokula's work is chronicled in over 180 scientific and academic publications and has led to systemic improvements in healthcare delivery, clinical outcomes, and public health policies for Indigenous communities, nationally, and internationally.
Kaholokula's strong commitment to achieving health equity for Indigenous communities is also reflected in his past services on the national level as chair for the Intervention Research to Improve Native American Health (IRINAH) network, cochair for the Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Special Interest Group of the National Institutes of Health’s Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL), and his past appointment to the National Advisory Council on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
In Hawai‘i, he has served on boards of organizations with a mission to improve population and Native Hawaiian health, including the Queen’s Health Systems, Hawai‘i Public Health Institute, and Papa Ola Lōkahi Native Hawaiian Health Board. He currently serves on the data disaggregation subcommittee of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. He formerly cochaired the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Interest Group of the National Institutes of Health CEAL.
Kaholokula has a National Institutes of Health grant examining the impact of the Maui wildfires on its systems, communities, healthcare, emergency response, education, housing. This year he was elected into the National Academy of Medicine for his scientific and service contributions.