Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) Health Research Office

The mission of the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) Health Research Office is to advance the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) efforts to support research, training, and community engagement that promotes and improves the health of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities in the United States and its territories.

The NHPI Health Research Office, established in 2024, within the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) will:

Address health disparities in NHPI communities.
Support career development and training of researchers focused on NHPI health.
Develop partnerships with academic institutions that have a track record of working closely with NHPI communities and NHPI-serving organizations to build research capacity.

NIH Inclusion Policies

The NIH is committed to supporting clinical research that benefits all individuals across sex and gender, race and ethnicity, and age. For more information about NIH’s inclusion policies, please visit Inclusion Policies for Research Involving Human Subjects and Inclusion of Women and Minorities as Participants in Research Involving Human Subjects.

Updated OMB Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 (March 2024)
According to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Directive No. 15, categories for minority groups – defined as a readily identifiable subset of the U.S. population that is distinguished by racial, ethnic, and/or cultural heritage – includes Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, separate from the Asian category.

The OMB published a revision to the Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 (Directive No. 15), Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity, in March 2024, the first since 1997. The purpose of the revisions is to have more accurate and useful data on race and ethnicity across the federal government.

Significant revisions related to NHPI research include:

Combining race and ethnicity as one question.
Requirement to collect more detail beyond minimum race and ethnicity categories, including detailed reporting categories for Native Hawaiian, Samoan, Chamorro, Tongan, Fijian, and Marshallese, and “Another group” with noted examples of Chuukese, Palauan, and Tahitian.

For more information, visit the OMB website regarding recent revisions and updates to Statistical Policy Directive No. 15.

NHPI Programs

The NIH supports research and capacity-building programs for NHPI communities, including:

RCMI: Ola HAWAII – University of Hawai’i at Manoa
The Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) program, established by Congress and administered by the NIMHD, strengthens the research infrastructure by developing and preparing future scientists at institutions that award doctoral degrees in the health professions or health-related sciences and have demonstrated historical and current commitment to serving students from underrepresented populations.

The RCMI program at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa (U54MD007601), Ola HAWAII, seeks to improve minority health and reduce health disparities for communities in Hawaii that disproportionately experience negative health outcomes and limited health care access.

Hawaii Clinical Research Network for Health Equity
The purpose of the Hawaii Clinical Research Network for Health Equity (UG3MD018358) program is to establish a Clinical Research Network for Health Equity in Hawaii that will develop and regularly update a patient data repository derived from Hawaii’s two largest health care delivery systems’ electronic health records. This network provides collaborative research opportunities across Hawaii and assess real-time health disparity needs.

Pacific Ocean Native Observational Health Legacy Study
The Multi-ethnic Observational Study in American Asian and Pacific Islander Communities (MOSAAIC) cohort was launched in 2023 by NHLBI and is supported by NHGRI, NIMH, NIMHD, and NINDS.

MOSAAIC is an epidemiological cohort study that evaluates cardiovascular health and disease in Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities. Based at the University of Hawaii, the PONO Health Legacy Study (UG3HL169657) is one of five sites in the United States that will focus on the health and well-being of Native Hawaiian and Micronesian Pacific Islanders in Hawaii linked to biological, environmental, behavioral, social, and cultural factors.

NIH CEAL: American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Enrichment Initiative
The Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) was established by the NIH as part of the nation’s federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2023, expanded to include programs that address more areas of health disparities. CEAL’s mission is to promote health equity, improve health outcomes, and strengthen community partnerships through community-engaged research that address racial and ethnic and socioeconomic health disparities.

The American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AI/AN NHPI) Enrichment Initiative was established to engage groups with expertise, capacity, and demonstrable achievements in community engagement and outreach within these communities to join CEAL in addressing health inequities.

Multiethnic Cohort Study
The Multiethnic Cohort (MEC) (U01CA164973) of Diet and Cancer, initially funded by the National Cancer Institute in 1993, was set up to examine risk factors for cancer and other chronic diseases. Established in Hawaii and southern California, the MEC Study is one of the world’s largest and most diverse cohort studies, having enrolled 215,000+ participants from five different racial and ethnic groups, including people who are non-Hispanic White, Black and African American, Hispanic and Latino, Asian American, and Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander.

Pacific Center for Genome Research
The Diversity Centers for Genome Research program supports the development of innovative genomic research projects through infrastructure building and the formation of interdisciplinary research teams at Minority Serving Institutions. The program is jointly funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute and NIMHD.

The Pacific Center for Genome Research (U54HG013243), based at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM), plans to grow and support the genomic research workforce at the UHM. The UHM’s mission is to serve historically underrepresented populations in biomedical research.

Funding Opportunities

NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices

NIMHD Approved Funding Concept: Research to Understand and Address Health Disparities in Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Populations supports multidisciplinary research to understand the risks, protective factors, and challenges, particularly upstream, that affect the NHPI population’s health, and to develop and test interventions and prevention strategies.

Events & Resources

NIMHD-led Workshop on Research on NHPI Health
Held in February 2024, the Workshop on Research on Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) Health gathered researchers, subject matter experts, community leaders, and advocates for NHPI health to identify critical health outcomes and needs aﬀecting communities, gaps in research, and opportunities for research promoting NHPI health and reducing health disparities. Access the agenda and view the workshop videos.

Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month
The NIH theme in 2024 for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month, Embracing Belonging, highlighted the contributions AA and NHPI people have made at the NIH. They represent more than 20% of the NIH workforce.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority observed AANHPI Heritage Month through its 2024 theme, Be the Source for Better Health: Improving Health Outcomes Through Our Cultures, Communities, and Connections, which called for people to understand how the environment, culture, history, and unique context of AA and NHPI populations influence their health.

NIMHD’s Conversations with Researchers series for AANHPI Heritage Month 2024 celebrated the significant contributions to America by people representing AA and NHPI communities and spotlighted two researchers promoting health equity through their community-engaged research.

AANHPI Scientific Interest Group
NIH’s Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Health Scientific Interest Group fosters scientific communication, shares and disseminates information, facilitates collaborations and education, assesses research needs, and makes recommendations to NIH leadership on research to improve the health and well-being of AA and NHPI populations.

White House Initiative on AANHPI
In 2024, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI) was established and the first-ever strategy for America to promote safety and equity for these communities was released.

Page published Aug. 29, 2024