Dr Heena Akbar
Faculty of Health,
School of Exercise & Nutrition Sciences
You are here:
- Home
- About
- Our people
- Academic profiles
- 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.View location details(QUT staff and student access only)
Personal details
Positions
- Visiting Fellow
Faculty of Health,
School of Exercise & Nutrition Sciences
Research field
Human Movement and Sports Science
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philsophy (Queensland University of Technology)
- Bachelor of Applied Science (Honors) (Life Science) (Queensland University of Technology)
- Bachelor of Applied Science (Queensland University of Technology)
Professional memberships and associations
Civil 20 (C20) Global Health Working Group, G20 Civil Engagement, Italy 2021 (Pacific Women In Network (Pacificwin) 2021 - present Pacific Australian Women’s Consultative Standing Committee (PAW CSC) 2021 - present Australian Association for Pacific Studies (AAPS) 2021 - present Oceania Pacific Health Association (OPHA) 2021 - present Co-Lead-Long Term Wellness Priority Group, Pasifika and Maori Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Brisbane South 2020-2025, QLD 2020 - present Supporting Medication Use for Maori & Pacific Islander Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Advisory Member 2020 - present Pasifika and Maori Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Brisbane South 2020-2025 Governance Committee Member, QLD 2019 - present Chair - Feeding Our Mana - Pasifika Food Security Project Advisory Committee 2019 - present Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland Ltd (ECCQ) 2012 - present Women’s Health Queensland Wide (WHQW) 2011 - present Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) 2010 - present
Publications
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Heena, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Filter publications:
A complete list of publications is available at: https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/h.akbar