Dr Heena Akbar

Biography

Dr Heena Akbar’s research is shaping how indigenous knowledge is used to address the health and well-being of Maori & Pacific peoples, particularly women with type 2 diabetes. Her research seeks to understand the socio-cultural determinants that contribute to health and well-being, integrating community participatory action research and indigenous perspectives and knowledge systems with social justice principles. Heena has been awarded several grants and fellowship that focused on Pacific and Indigenous health and wellbeing. Her co-developed solutions lead to Heena being awarded the auDA Foundation fellowship in 2017 to co-design an e-health family-centred, diabetes self-management intervention with Maori and Pacific Communities in Queensland. Heena recently received a 2021 Women’s Health Translational Research Network (WHTRN) Early Middle Career Research Award to pilot the Pasifika Wellness Program in Queensland. Her research serves to reduce the social and economic burden from diabetes and its related complications, and impact policy development that translates to better health outcomes for Maori & Pacific peoples in Australia. Heena’s research now develops community-based strategies that provide access to affordable food for a healthy and active life so as to reduce the burden of chronic diseases for Maori & Pacific families and communities.