Keolu Fox

2022-2023 ENRICH Global Chair

Keolu Fox is the first Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) to receive a doctorate in genome sciences, and is an assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego, affiliated with the Department of Anthropology, the Global Health Program, the Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, the Climate Action Lab, the Design Lab, and the Indigenous Futures Institute.

His work focuses on the connection between raw data as a resource and the emerging value of genomic health data from Indigenous communities. He has experience designing and engineering genome sequencing and editing technologies, and a decade of grassroots experience working with Indigenous partners to advance precision medicine.

As an ENRICH Global Chair, Keolu will build a library for Indigenous health data in partnership with Indigenous communities. He will pilot a platform that will enable collecting and protecting Indigenous health data using Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDS) principles, which provides a framework for allowing Indigenous communities themselves to manage and benefit from their own data. Ultimately, he hopes to create a replicable standard for Indigenous data sovereignty.