Special Issue Introduction: Advancing Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Health

This is an introductory article for the special issue on "Advancing Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Health" of the Asian American Journal of Psychology. It provides a demographic and historical overview of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders in the United States as well as the most pressing physical and mental health issues faced by these communities. In so doing, this article provides the larger cultural and social context for the studies that comprise this special issue. The eight articles in this special issue reflect the current "state of the science" in Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander health-related research across two broad domains-behavioral health and chronic medical disease disparities. Each article in this special issue is summarized with a focus on its unique contribution to advancing Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander health. In addition, the current challenges and opportunities for advancing Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander health are explored, which include a call for data disaggregation from Asian populations, moving the science from characterizing health disparities to real-world solutions, conducting culturally responsive research, and diversifying the health science workforce to include Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. What is the public significance of this article? To improve the health disparities of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, the aggregation of their health-related data with Asian Americans needs to stop because this practice masks these disparities. We also call for more community engaged, culturally responsive research and dedicated federal funding to increase their representation in the health science workforce.