WASHINGTON– On the premier episode of NCHE PRESENTS: Leaders Pursuing Health Equity in America podcast, host Dr. Gail C. Christopher talks with guest Dr. Kaiwipuni Punihei Lipe. She is an extraordinary leader who discusses the culture of native Hawaiians, the challenges they face and their connectiveness with their homeland. 

Uplifting and upbeat, Dr. Lipe believes in a “connectiveness” on earth. “In all places in the world, I believe that at one time or another there were principles that connected us to each other and a place for us in our stories,” she says. “We know that we are born from this land, that the land, the sky, the sea, the birds, the plants, the animals they’re all part of our family. It’s a lens or a framework that invites us always to be thinking of the ways we are connected, even when we’re not biologically related. And so that is a core principle that we are trying to teach anyone who is in our presence.”

Dr. Christopher, executive director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity (NCHE), adds, “It’s very exciting. If we love this place, how can we work together to take care of it? That is just so profound and so important. Thank you for sharing that ancestral wisdom with us. We all hail from ancestral wisdom. We are trying to catch up with our ancestors in learning to live in harmony with our environments and in concert with one another.” 

Citing spiritual strength and resiliency of their culture, Dr. Lipe notes that many Hawaiians struggle “in so many ways, all very connected to the loss of our lands; more than half of native Hawaiians live outside of Hawaii. We cannot afford to live on our own homelands.”  

Dr. Lipe is the inaugural director of the Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Advancement office at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM). She holds a BA in Hawaiian Studies, an MS in Counseling Psychology, and a PhD in Education Administration.

Listen to the engaging conversation HERE    

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Dr. Gail C. Christopher is the Executive Director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity, Senior Scholar at the Center for Advancement of Well-Being at George Mason University, former Senior Advisor and Vice President of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. Her new book, RX-Racial Healing is available HERE. Follow Dr. Christopher on Twitter @drgcchristopher.

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About NCHE

Founded in 2014, NCHE established to promote health equity through action, leadership, inclusion, and collaboration. We work to create environments that foster the best possible health outcomes for all populations, regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or nativity. NCHE also works to improve conditions for health and well-being, including those related to housing, education, income and wealth and the physical and social environment. Further, it is imperative that we address historic and contemporary structural, institutional, and interpersonal racism, which fuels inequities in our society.