Keolu Fox

Native Hawaiian geneticist, indigenous rights activist, and National Geographic Explorer Keolu Fox explores the links between human genetic variation and disease in underrepresented populations, and advocates for more inclusive and representative genome sequencing to allow indigenous populations to gather and analyze their own genetic data. He is the first Native Hawaiian to receive a doctorate in genome sciences, and is an assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego, where he is co-founder and co-director of the world’s first Indigenous Futures Institute. Keolu has experience engineering genome sequencing and editing technologies, and a decade of grassroots experience working with indigenous partners to advance precision medicine.