As the Director of the Office of Strategic Health Initiatives for the University of Hawai‘i System, Dr. Grace works to improve health and healthcare in Hawai‘i and the Pacific through forming strategic partnerships, supporting community-engaged activities, developing federal strategies, and supporting research and service opportunities.

Dr. Grace leads the UHealthy Hawaiʻi Initiative and serves as the Principal Investigator (PI) or co-PI for projects such as the Rural Health Research and Policy Center, Center for Indigenous Innovation and Health Equity, Red Hill Registry, and the Education, Training, and Policy Core of the Veterans Affairs Center for Pacific Islander Health. She also provides support across a number of other UH projects, including serving as health policy advisor for Ola HAWAII and advancing UH System-wide health workforce initiatives. Dr. Grace also catalyzed and supported multiple new federal initiatives, including the new Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Health Research Office in the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and new federal funding for Medical-Legal Partnerships nationally in the Administration for Children and Families.

Dr. Grace is a pediatrician and previously served for three years as lead health policy advisor for U.S. Senator Brian Schatz in Washington, D.C. where she managed Senator Schatz’s legislative work in the health field, including the areas of telehealth, Medicaid buy‐in, Tobacco to 21, Project ECHO, public health emergency preparedness, and chronic pain. She also managed Senator Schatz’s budget and appropriations for health programs of importance to Hawai’i and Native Hawaiians. Dr. Grace completed her undergraduate studies in human biology at Stanford University, medical degree at the UH John A. Burns School of Medicine, pediatrics residency at Stanford University’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Master of Public Health (Health Policy and Management) degree at the Harvard School of Public Health, and General Academic Pediatrics (Health Policy) fellowship at the Children’s National Health System. Nationally, Dr. Grace serves on the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Council on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention, and she is a co-founder and member of the Advisory Council for HEAL Trafficking.