Researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa have received a $2.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to support the next phase of a study examining the long-term impacts of the 2023 Maui wildfires.

The three-year award will fund the Maui LOA, or Learnings to Overcome Adversities, study, which focuses on factors affecting health and well-being following disasters. The project is led by Alex Ortega, dean of the Thompson School of Social Work and Public Health, and Keawe Kaholokula, chair and professor in the Department of Native Hawaiian Health at the John A. Burns School of Medicine.

Researchers plan to survey 1,200 adults who were living on Maui during the wildfires, including residents who were displaced, to better understand long-term recovery and disaster response at the individual, family and community levels.

According to UH, findings from the study are expected to help inform public policy, emergency response planning, health services and community recovery efforts in Hawaii and across the country.

Previous findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in August 2025 found that the mental health effects of the wildfires extended beyond burn zones, with housing displacement and income loss identified as major contributors to depression and anxiety.