L. Kealoha Fox

Dr. Kealoha Fox applies indigenous innovation for collaborative solutions in science and policy. She is a Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) scientist, practitioner, and advocate guided by the ancestral proverb, e ho’i hou i ka mole, and their calling to return to the taproot. She has been deeply trained by her esteemed community elders in traditional practices and serves on the National Congress of American Indians’ Climate Action Task Force and the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, while appointed as state of Hawaiʻi Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commissioner and Hawaiʻi Greenhouse Gas Sequestration Task Force member. Dr. Fox has published numerous books, articles, and editorials designing social well-being strategies with measurable impact in the Pacific. A graduate of the John A. Burns School of Medicine, she was awarded a Mellon Fellowship and became an NIH postdoctoral scholar to eliminate minority disparities. A 2018 distinction named her one of ten New Voices in Global Health. During 2019, Kealoha became an Asia-Pacific Leader for the Obama Foundation. In 2020, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded her the Snapshot of Innovation award to build a Culture of Health. When not working, you can find her on the beach with her family in Hawai’i.