Dr. Mapuana Antonio is a Native Hawaiian Assistant Professor, with a joint position in Native Hawaiian and Indigenous Health at the Office of Public Health Studies and in Human Nutrition at the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences. Dr. Mapuana works and conducts research with Native Hawaiian communities, applying the principles of community-based participatory research. Her research takes a holistic approach to health and has primarily focused on general health and resiliency of Native Hawaiians and determinants of health of Native Hawaiians and Indigenous Peoples. Dr. Mapuana is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Ola HAWAII pilot study Ke ola o ka 'āina. The role of 'āina (land) connectedness in Native Hawaiian health and has served as a co-Investigator for the Papakōlea Hawaiian Homestead Community Health Survey and the Indigenizing the Curriculum: Case Example from the Puni Ke Ola Project. In the past, she has served as a research assistant for 1) PILI (Partnership for Improving Lifestyle Intervention) ‘Ohana Program, an NIH-funded project and a community-based participatory research project that aimed to address obesity and related disparities in Hawai‘i and the larger Pacific, 2) Project PONO (Promoting Optimal Native Outcomes) a community-based participatory project that aimed to better understand maternal stress and coping strategies among women from a rural community in Hawai‘i, and 3) HCCI, a strengths-based and youth led program that aimed to prevent youth suicide and increase early intervention by positively impacting at-risk communities in Hawai‘i. She also has gained international research experience as a scholar in the Māhina International Indigenous Health Research Training.
