Mike is a UW Presidential Term Professor in Social Work and the director of Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Oceanic Affairs at the University of Washington Indigenous Wellness Research Institute (IWRI). His research examines health and wellness among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders and is focused on interventions that promote health among Native Hawaiians through indigenous practices and values.

Tino is a CHamoru doctoral student at the School of Social Work. His research focuses on the application of cultural resurgence and survivance in culturally rooted health promotion for Queer and Transgender Pacific Islanders; the codification of CHamoru and Pasifika values in Indigenous health research; and Indigenous and Pasifika health equity broadly.

Kilohana Haitsuka is the proud product of Kānaka Maoli from Anahola, Kauaʻi and Japanese settlers from Kāneʻohe, Oʻahu. She loves her community, and their needs and voices will always be at the forefront of her work. Her research is culturally guided and grounded in Indigenous research methodologies that advocate for community participation and respectful engagement.

Buddy is a Kānaka Maoli researcher in the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute (IWRI). His research centers on Indigenized community health for diaspora Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders through culturally grounded, biomedical, and community-based methodologies.

Wilson (he/they) is the child of Nung/Ngai, Chinese, and Vietnamese refugees, born and raised in South Seattle on Duwamish and Coast Salish land. He seeks to engage with community-based participatory action and decolonizing research in his research to redirect power to communities of color, collectively build coalitions, dismantle oppressive systems, and radically address health and wellness. He looks forward to working and learning collectively at Ola Pasifika and with Pasifika communities.

Nakia Recheungel (she/her) is a third year at the University of Washington studying Computer Science. Born in Oregon and raised in Washington she loves to travel between the two states. Nakia is proud to be of both Chamorro and Palauan descent and she hopes to use her degree to make a positive impact for her community in the states and back on the Islands.

Jillian is Native Hawaiian, Filipina, and Swedish. She is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Washington, studying medical anthropology. Her research interests focus on decolonizing healthcare systems.

Jonathan is an undergraduate studying Environmental Science & Resource Management in Interdisciplinary Honors with an emphasis in Oceanic & Pacific Islander Studies. With roots in Guam and Hong Kong, they are passionate about challenging current education systems and conservation science practices through counter-storytelling. Environmental justice cannot happen without class and racial justice, and Jonathan continues to work alongside community in different ways from access to technology to antiracism curriculum writing to holding spaces for racial healing.

Vivian Hung (she/her) is an American born Taiwanese student looking to major in Informatics or Public Health. As a Junior, she is interested in researching about health disparities in the United States, focusing on the adverse effects it can have on minorities. Vivian appreciates Ola Pasifika's tenacity when working with large quantities of data. She is especially excited to research with Ola Pasifika and to work with Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian, and Indigenous communities.

Mehria is a recent UW graduate. Honoring their Hazara cultural heritage and their parents’ resilience and resistance to oppression guides Mehria's commitment to social justice. Their goal is to engage in culturally-rooted equity work and research focused on health and wellness disparities affecting immigrant women and children in their Afghan ethnic community. They are also interested in anti-racist and strengths-based public health research approach which centers the cultural wealth, agency, and knowledge of communities of color.