# MALAMA:  Nurturing Pathways for Native Hawaiian Scholars through a Community-Academic Partnership

> **NIH NIH U54** · UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA · 2023 · $335,582

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Ola HAWAII is a RCMI Specialized Center with a long-term goal to improve minority health and reduce health
disparities for those communities in Hawaii that suffer disproportionately due to disparities in health outcomes
and healthcare access. MALAMA: Backyard Aquaponics to Promote Healthy Eating and Reduce
Cardiometabolic Risk is one of the five-year studies under Ola HAWAII. MALAMA aims to test the efficacy of a
culturally grounded, family-centered backyard aquaponics intervention to increase the consumption of healthy
foods, reduce food insecurity, and mitigate cardiometabolic risks in multiple Native Hawaiian communities on
three Hawaiian Islands. In addition, MALAMA is a robust model of a community-campus partnership that
provides a critical training ground to mentor and ensure the success of Native Hawaiian students and
researchers. The MALAMA Research Team has demonstrated its commitment to enhancing diversity, equity,
inclusion, and accessibility by supporting Native Hawaiian scholars in higher education and
biomedical/behavioral sciences. Supplement funding will allow us to cover the unanticipated costs of
implementing our clinical trial of MALAMA at the next community site and to continue the mentoring/training
efforts of our research team. We will achieve these goals through three aims: 1) Enhance the organizational
capacity of Ke Kula Nui O Waimanalo and meet unanticipated costs of the projects; 2) Enhance the
data analysis skills of the research team by providing training in statistics and data science; 3)
Enhance the outreach and dissemination capacity of the research team. Successful completion of these
aims will help our team successfully meet the original specific aims and goals of the MALAMA Study. It will
also help enhance the community-academic partnership that serves as an important training and mentoring
opportunity for emerging scholars from underrepresented backgrounds. This aligns with one of the
recommendations made by the Advisory Committee to the Director Working Group on Diversity in the
Biomedical Research Workforce which states: “NIH should partner with established minority scientific and
professional groups and other trusted organizations to implement a system of mentorship “networks” for
underrepresented minority students that will provide career guidance throughout their career development.”
Our proposal will contribute to the ongoing efforts to diversify the biomedical/behavioral sciences workforce,
which is needed to address the pervasive health disparities in Indigenous and minority communities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10917890
- **Project number:** 3U54MD007601-37S3
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA
- **Principal Investigator:** Jerris Robert Hedges
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $335,582
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 1997-09-23 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10917890

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10917890, MALAMA:  Nurturing Pathways for Native Hawaiian Scholars through a Community-Academic Partnership (3U54MD007601-37S3). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10917890. Licensed CC0.

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