Mele Look

Mele Look speaks about Hula and Health: Updates & New Directions on the Panel on Childhood at the Public Health Resonance Culturally & Regionally Relevant Physical Activity Across the Globe Webinar program.

Bio

Mele Look has worked as a health researcher, community advocate, and health administrator for over 45 years.  She was the first Director of Community Engagement at the Department of Native Hawaiian Health, University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine and presently serves as a Senior Advisor on select initiatives. At the Department, Ms. Look founded and facilitated the Ulu Network, a cardiometabolic health community coalition which has grown to 41 community-based organizations with over 80 sites that serve Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Peoples across Hawai‘i and the Continental U.S.   She received her Master’s in Business Administration from University of California, Berkeley. Her research includes pioneering epidemiologic studies in the area of Native Hawaiian mortality, developing training in cardiometabolic conditions for community health workers serving Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, and recently has been focusing on initiatives that merge cultural practices and health objectives.  She has been a cultural practitioner in the Native Hawaiian dance of hula since 1974, and has completed the ‘uniki huʻe lepo and ‘ai lolo (graduations) as an ‘olapa (accomplished dancer) with Hālau Mōhala ‘Ilima a renown Hawaiian cultural and creative arts academy.