Santino G. Camacho is a multiethnic, Queer CHamoru scholar from the island of Guåhan (Guam). He is currently a PhD candidate at the UW School of Social Work. Santino currently works in non-profit leadership & community organizing work serving as a board member for the United Territories of Pacific Islander Alliance of Washington (UTOPIA WA) and for the Queer and Trans Pacific Islander Village, a council member on the Pacific Islander Community Association of Washington's and UTOPIA WA's Pasifika Village Council, and a co-lead creative and co-founder of the Guma' Gela': Trans and Queer Chamoru art collective. As co-principal investigator for the lab, his role is in leading community-engaged research projects and facilitating community partnerships for Ola Pasifika's research with local Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NH/PI) community organizations and leaders to ensure data sovereignty for our community partners.

Santino's research practice seeks to empower Pasifika communities in Washington through participatory research aimed at addressing social justice issues & Indigenous cultural strengths that underlie the health experiences of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities. His research examines culturally grounded health promotion for QTPI communities that address the impacts of settler colonialism on Indigenous connectedness for QTPI. His dissertation research seeks to he examine the use of QTPI storytelling and cultural ceremony to promote healing of colonial harm promote for as community practices that facilitate greater relational wellbeing for QTPI with their culture, community, family, lands, and ancestors. Tino’s research interests include the application of cultural resurgence and resistance to Indigneousn health promotion; Indigenist research methodologies, Pasifika relational values and ethics in participatory research; and Indigenous and Pasifika health equity.