‘From ancient scientists to the next generation of leaders’
Halaevalu Vakalahi, PhD, shares how her indigenous roots shaped her path to become a researcher and inspires optimism for the future of science
By Hansook Oh
Sept 25, 2024
Clockwise from left: Halaevalu Vakalahi holding her young son, headshot of Vakalahi, and Vakalahi’s parents.
In her episodes of Become A Researcher, Halaevalu Vakalahi, PhD, talks about the value of indigenous ways, the importance of true representation in science and the responsibility of scientists to contribute positively in their communities.
Vakalahi was formerly the Dean of the College of Health and Society at Hawai’i Pacific University (HPU) and served as the principal investigator on an NIH-funded grant called HPU Undergraduate Infrastructure Student Research Center (HUI SRC). She left her position at HPU in 2022 and is now the President and CEO of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE).
Vakalahi grew up in Hawaii with her Tongan family and credits her family’s indigenous knowledge and practices for setting her up to become a scientist.
In Episode 11—“Representation Matters”—she shared how her grandmother made traditional medicine that she would eat at the beginning of the school year as a child to keep from getting sick, and her family would work the land on their farms across the different Hawaiian Islands.
She attributes this family knowledge all the way back to her ancestors, whom she refers to as “ancient scientists.”
“There were people who went from Tonga to Samoa, to Tahiti, to New Zealand or Aotearoa to here to Hawaii with no compass, [with] none of our technological wayfinding, it was traditional,” Vakalahi said. “They looked at the stars, they felt the ocean, they felt the wind and sort of, like, allowed nature and… I guess, their spiritual connection, to guide them from one space to the other. I think that these ancient scientists, I want to call them, left for us a really deep value for science.”
Vakalahi said that as a Pacific Islander and a woman of color in science, she realized early on that representation matters and doesn’t shy away from taking on leadership roles.
“I said okay I'm going to take on this challenge that representation matters,” Vakalahi said. “I also understood that leadership matters that it's not just representing, because you can represent in like, really junk ways or you can actually represent.”
Her leadership skills and her indigenous values led her to oversee the HUI SRC program, which trains undergraduate students in research through encouraging entrepreneurship and independence.
In Episode 12—“HUI SRC: Kuleana of emerging scientists”—Vakalahi described some of the student's research projects, which included: students taking samples from the Ala Wai Canal freshwater river in Honolulu; studying homelessness and mental health; and studying Native Hawaiian young adults and mental health.
“Most exciting for me is the fact that they're finding ʻāina — land, this land, Hawaii, this sacred space we call Hawaii and home, they [are] finding things to connect back to it to make sure that it's healthy,” Vakalahi said.
Vakalahi called these emerging scientists also as emerging leaders, because they are “one in the same.”
“Their Kuleana, or responsibility, to society is to create... healthy communities that in the future will produce and cultivate and nurture healthy individuals,” Vakalahi said. “[Kuleana] is something that I received from those [on] whose shoulders I stand, and something the next generation is going to receive from us [on] whose shoulders that they stand.”
In Episode 13—"Ancient scientists: Indigenous ways"—she explains how indigenous ways have sustained communities for centuries and that some of her elders in her community have better health and longevity than younger generations.
“We need to reintroduce indigenous ways of being, indigenous ways of doing things,” Vakalahi said.
For Vakalahi, one of the roles of science is to bring people together.
“So if we're going to use science to isolate, silo, separate people, divide and conquer kind of a thing, it has no business in human beings,” Vakalahi said.
Clockwise from top left: Vakalahi’s maternal grandparents, group photos showing intergenerational representations from her family..
Vakalahi has a positive outlook on the future of science, as she said science is beginning to take into consideration the indigenous ways of knowing that have been left on the sidelines for a long time.
“I think we've got our Western ways of knowing — now let's add something and really make it complete," Vakalahi said.
Watch all of Vakalahi’s videos on the Enhance Science YouTube channel.
What does it take to become a scientific researcher? The Diversity Program Consortium’s (DPC) Enhance Science project explores this question in a new video series called “Become A Researcher.”
The series features five biomedical researchers who are at different stages of their careers, from starting graduate school to managing multiple grant-funded projects as accomplished senior faculty. Each of the five researchers are affiliated with the DPC, a network of institutions funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to implement training and mentoring interventions, and to enhance individuals' success in biomedical research careers.
Read about other researchers featured in the Become A Researcher series:
- Zak Peet — ‘Your life experiences are valuable’
- Cecilia Hinojosa, PhD — 'Why I was put on earth'
- Juan Castillo, PhD — ‘From the Canal to Chemistry’
Story was updated on September 12, 2023.
