# Ola HAWAII

> **NIH NIH U54** · UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA · 2020 · $86,413

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Achieving “ola” (health in Hawaiian) for the communities suffering disproportionately from genetic,
environmental and socioeconomic disparities in health is the rationale for the proposed RCMI Specialized
Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The objective of the Center, named Ola HAWAII, is to grow and
support a community of health disparities investigators (the “workforce”) to harness the power of diverse
thought (the “thinkforce”) to determine the causes of and interventions for health disparities. The Center's
objective will be achieved by the following specific aims.
Specific Aim 1: Foster and facilitate the conduct of high-impact team-science research addressing
health disparities.
Plan: Involve all stakeholders in decision-making process of selecting meritorious project proposals and
provide funding and infrastructure support for scientifically rigorous R01/R21-type basic biomedical, behavioral
and clinical research projects on health disparities. Promote collaborations and partnerships with other RCMI
grantee institutions through the RCMI Translational Research Network (RTRN).
Specific Aim 2: Strengthen and diversify the basic biomedical, behavioral and clinical research
workforce and thinkforce focusing on health disparities.
Plan. Identify the most motivated basic biomedical, behavioral and clinical faculty, particularly those from
underrepresented backgrounds, for careers in health disparities research. Identify senior faculty to serve on
mentoring teams for new and early-stage investigators. Implement a Team-Science Mentoring Bootcamp for
personalized education and skills training. Implement a Team-Science Pilot Projects Program to provide
funding, on a competitive basis, to new and early-stage investigators to generate data for grant applications.
Specific Aim 3: Enhance, consolidate and sustain core facilities and resources for health disparities
research.
Plan. Implement objective criteria and metrics to evaluate core needs and usage, core-dependent research
productivity, and revenue generation. Consolidate core resources to reduce redundancies. Provide modest
funding through a “CoreBucks” Program to maximize utilization of core resources and services across RTRN.
Institutional investments will ensure the sustainability of the proposed RCMI Specialized Center to provide the
infrastructure and resources for a new era of research excellence on the science of health disparities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10199162
- **Project number:** 3U54MD007601-34S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA
- **Principal Investigator:** Jerris Robert Hedges
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $86,413
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 1997-09-01 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10199162

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10199162, Ola HAWAII (3U54MD007601-34S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10199162. Licensed CC0.

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