About Nani
Nani (she/her) hails from O’ahu and Maui, Hawai’i. She has an MPH with a concentration in Public Health Nutrition and Nutritional Epidemiology from UC Berkeley and a dual BA in Sociology and Philosophy from Williams College. While at Berkeley, Nani served as the chair of the Food Institute Graduate Council, mentored public health, environmental science, and business students in social impact, and was a member of the Indigenous Graduate Students Association. She was also selected as a Kaiser Permanente Community Health Scholar and a fellow with the University of California Global Food Initiative and received the Dean’s Diversity Award.
Her recent work includes designing a community-driven health indicator project for San Francisco Department of Public Health, supporting the development of the first-ever integrated food system policy plan for Hawai’i, designing and evaluating culturally relevant plant-based meal programs for acute care hospitals, and researching the relationship between socioeconomic status and physical activity behaviors in women of reproductive age. Nani hopes to be increasingly involved in data disaggregation initiatives and health policy advocacy, especially for her Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Indigenous relatives.