story

about

Alyshia Alohalani Macaysa-Feracota is a community organizer, facilitator, and nationally recognized public health practitioner. The heart of her work is building life-affirming justice through a decolonized public health practice. Alyshia’s body of work includes systems-shifting initiatives that have placed the wisdom and experiences of front line communities at the center of decision-making. This includes designing and facilitating the City of Portland’s Smart City PDX Community Leads cohort, Oregon Public Health Division’s Pacific Islander Data Modernization project, and the Oregon Resource Allocation Advisory Committee. Her specific interests include research and data justice, upstream technology & health equity policy making, and community-led strategic initiatives.

In 2019, Alyshia was inducted into Robert Wood Johnson Foundations fourth Culture of Health Leaders (CoHL) cohort - a nationally renowned leadership development and innovation program led by the country’s largest health-focused philanthropic entity. Additionally, Alyshia served on Multnomah County’s Public Health Advisory Board and the OR Governor’s Racial Justice Health Equity Committee. She is a proud founding board member of suma - a digital justice non-profit, and the founding Executive Director of the Oregon Pacific Islander Coalition. Most recently, Alyshia was named a 2022 Distinguished Alumni by the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare.

When Alyshia is not working she enjoys following the works of classical painters of color, swimming, listening to music hella loud, and spending time with her loved ones.