Native Hawaiians are twice as likely to develop diabetes as Whites living in Hawaii and four times more likely to die of stroke.
These are the kinds of health problems being addressed by the Center for Native and Pacific Health Disparities Research and its network of community partners.
Dr. Marjorie Mau has served as lead principal investigator of the Center since 2002, when it was established with an NIMHD grant at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. Her experience growing up in Hawai'i and as the only Native Hawaiian in her medical school class led to a deep passion for working with Hawai'i's communities on the health problems they care about. It also made her passionate about training people in those communities to not only volunteer in a study but also do the research.
"The word 'collaboration' or 'partnership' really doesn't capture the form of community engagement that we use in our Center. We literally walk with our communities–and not in front of them, but beside them," says Dr. Mau. "They're part of just about everything the Center does."