As Maui recovers from devastating fires, a study offers vision for new rural health model

Highlights

Researchers Alika Maunakea and Ruben Juarez are conducting one of the largest studies on the long-term health effects of wild and urban fire exposure.

The study, which follows survivors of the 2023 fires that burned down Lāhainā, may provide key insights that could help protect people exposed to future fires anywhere.

To the researchers’ surprise, the study has become an important piece of health infrastructure in Maui’s rural areas. They hope to build a nonprofit to continue health monitoring and research, creating what they see as a new model in rural health.

LĀHAINĀ, Hawai‘i — About once a month, Alika Maunakea and Ruben Juarez and their staff fly medical equipment from the University of Hawai‘i on O‘ahu to the west side of Maui. On the edge of the Lāhainā burn zone, the two researchers transform the local health center into an impromptu lab. They collect blood, urine, DNA, and health measures like mental health and lung function scores for the Maui Wildfire Exposure Study or MauiWES, one of the largest and most comprehensive postfire investigations in the country.