Hawaiian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander (HAAPI) Coordinating Center

SUMMARY/ABSTRACT People of Asian, Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander (AsA-NHPI) ancestry, while representing 7.7% of the US population, have been largely underrepresented from NIH-funded prospective epidemiologic studies. As a result, there are large gaps in our knowledge of the burden and causes of cardiovascular, metabolic, and mental health disorders in these populations. Individuals of these backgrounds have experienced, to varying degrees, the barriers, stresses, and stereotyping experienced by other minorities while also having challenges that are unique to them. Understanding the heterogeneity of their lifestyles and societal and environmental circumstances, as well as their ancestry, is a critical first step in determining their health needs and how to address them. The heterogeneity in these populations, followed longitudinally and contrasted with other populations, may add unique insights into the etiology of both physical and mental health conditions. In this application for the Hawaiian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander Coordinating Center (HAAPI-CC), we propose to: (1) Bring exceptional scientific, statistical, and cultural expertise to the effort of assessing the physical and mental health and their determinants in people of Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Islander ancestry; (2) Provide the operational, data science, and biorepository infrastructure and leadership to support the scientific priorities of the cohort and stimulate and enhance ancillary study opportunities broadly; (3) Coordinate and support Clinical or Community Field Center (CCFC) activities to enhance recruitment and retention and broader community engagement; and (4) Enhance career development of early stage investigators, particularly those from under-represented backgrounds. Through this effort, we can estimate the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and risk factors and mental health conditions, study their interplay and trajectories over time, and examine associations with novel exposures derived from data linkages and biospecimens. We anticipate leading a number of ancillary studies to obtain additional rich data from novel sources (wearables, mHealth, genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, microbiome, cardiac and brain imaging). Through these efforts, we and our CCFC colleagues, will advance the knowledge of the health conditions of Asian, Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders and provide the infrastructure for deeper understanding of their biological, environmental, and sociological underpinnings. ,