The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment at the Medical College of Wisconsin has awarded $3.1 million to five community health initiatives and six health research projects aimed at improving health statewide.
“From cells to society, the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment is working to propel promising work and ideas that support a healthier Wisconsin today, and for generations to come,” said Cheryl Maurana, founding director of the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment at the Medical College of Wisconsin. “Through these awards, we are excited to advance research that can improve lives and help partners create real, positive change in communities statewide.”
The community health initiatives, which will begin their work in January, include:
- With a $528,610 award, the Children’s Health Alliance of Wisconsin and partners will develop protocols to integrate oral health services into primary care medical clinics and health systems to improve access to dental services and reduce incidence of dental disease on overall health outcomes.
- Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin will use a $501,268 award to expand a system that brings healthier foods to hunger relief agencies across Wisconsin.
- With a $474,360 award, Eras Senior Network, Inc. partners will develop and pilot a system to support the health and well-being of family caregivers caring for chronically ill and aging seniors.
- A $450,000 award will support four local health departments in Milwaukee County to develop and adopt policies, procedures and practices to expand access to health insurance enrollment assistance and basic reproductive care for residents.
- An additional $10,000 award will support Drug-Free Communities of Fond du Lac County and the Fond du Lac School District in developing a strategic plan to expand early identification and support systems for pregnant women who use drugs.
The following research projects were each awarded $200,000:
- MCW assistant professor Guilherme Garcia is leading a team seeking to develop methods to detect the most common contributor to obstructive sleep apnea and find better treatment options for patients.
- A project led by MCW associate professor Qing-song Liu is examining the extent to which drugs targeting the endocannabinoid system in the brain may protect against the development or progression of Parkinson’s disease as well as whether these drugs may effectively treat disease symptoms.
- A team led by MCW professor L. Silvia Munoz-Price will conduct a randomized controlled trial seeking to improve diagnosis and clinical outcomes for patients diagnosed with Clostridium Difficile Infection, the most frequent hospital-acquired infection in the United States.
- MCW assistant professor Lindsay Nelson and a team of researchers will investigate the autonomic nervous system mechanisms that may help explain mild traumatic brain injury symptoms and inform the development of evidence-based rehabilitation programs.
- Led by MCW professor Marja Nevalainen, a team will develop a predictive test to assist clinicians in selecting a chemotherapy regimen with the highest efficacy for pancreatic cancer patients.
- Led by MCW associate professor Brian Stemper, investigators will study repetitive head impacts sustained during sports participation to develop new knowledge around how repetitive, subconcussive head impacts may result in accumulating brain damage and identify new preventive measures.
