�������ϲʿ������

WMed is well-positioned to lead a new initiative aimed at advancing health equity research.��

The Southwest Michigan Institute for Health Equity Research will address health equity and disparities and improve the health and well-being of Southwest Michigan communities.��

The institute will be a partnership between WMed, Western Michigan University, Bronson Healthcare, Ascension Borgess Hospital, and other healthcare organizations. Its research programs will focus on hypothesis-driven, clinically-based, and community-connected projects that address the health needs of diverse communities of people across the lifespan, with special emphasis on women and children, the aging population, minority groups, and the economically disadvantaged.��

“There is a lot of work to be done, but what’s exciting is it’s a tangible idea that I think people can relate to,” WMed Dean Robert G. Sawyer, �������ϲʿ������, said. “It’s very in line with what our mission and values are.”��

Through a strategic planning process, WMed leadership, faculty, and staff solidified an institutional vision of health equity for all in Southwest Michigan through innovation in the practice and study of medicine. Those conversations sparked a separate research strategic planning process.��

The institute will be primarily focused on advancing health equity research. Health equity, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is the state in which everyone has a fair opportunity to attain the highest level of health. This involves a commitment to identifying and addressing the root causes of health disparities, promoting fairness, and ensuring that everyone has the resources and support needed to achieve their highest possible level of health.��

To accomplish this mission, faculty, residents, students, and staff will develop and maintain partnerships that address factors that contribute to individual and community health. The institute will also provide learning opportunities in health equity and community-based participatory research for medical students, undergraduate and graduate students, residents and fellows, faculty, and staff.��

“Our demographics in Southwest Michigan are not terribly different than the United States,” Dr. Sawyer said. “In terms of attracting people who want to study different changes to try to improve health equity, we’re the right size and demographics to be able to do that.”��

The specific aims of the institute are to:��

• Promote a health equity lens to the interdisciplinary and translational research, training, and service provided in Southwest Michigan��
• Emphasize a community and population health or public health sciences perspective��
• Highlight the importance of client/patient engagement in community-based and integrated health systems services��
• Explore population-level and hospital databases to address health disparities and health equity��
• Provide methodological, statistical and outcomes assessment expertise to providers and researchers��
• Secure national, state, and regional grant and contract funding to sustain projects from investigation through implementation and analysis of outcomes��

The institute will be organized around four strategic cores: community-based participatory research, health services research, population health surveillance, and training and education. Working together, these areas will transform how clinicians, educators, and researchers understand and conduct translational health sciences and research at the intersection of clinical care and community health.��

The institute infrastructure will be supported by multiple institutions and pursue health equity research and research training through a variety of health-related disciplines. Participating institutions will declare the specific outcomes they want to achieve through the institute and compile an annual report on the investments and outcomes. Broad-based community impact will be reported, and the magnitude of this impact will be tracked over time.��

“To be self-sustaining is the ultimate goal,” Dr. Sawyer said. “We also want to see productivity in terms of what we measure, productivity in terms of output, so we should have publications, we should have grant awards, we should have people who are going through a training program specifically in this area because we’re experts. Those are kind of the big five-to-10-year goals.”��

Within its first six months, the institute will seek to recruit and retain a director and identify associate directors for the four major institute cores. Within the first year, the institute will explore both higher education institutional partners and community health and human services partners. In subsequent years, it will identify federal, state, and local funding sources toward creating institutional impact and sustainability.��

Dr. Sawyer noted federal funds are currently being sought to help get the institute up and running, and “we’re beginning to work on state funding opportunities as well.”��

“Self-sustainability through a combination of governmental funds, external research grants and philanthropy is the big landmark,” Dr. Sawyer said. “We hope we can get there by year four or five.”��

Ultimate outcomes of the institute include the production of high-quality, hypothesis-driven research to enhance the physical, mental, and emotional needs of individuals and families and strengthen and build community spirit, innovation, and growth. The impact and reach will be from specific local neighborhoods to cities and townships, to Southwest Michigan and the state of Michigan as a whole, and to create promising approaches and practices at the national and global level.��

“It can be done,” Dr. Sawyer said. “We’re going to have to get all the right people in place (to make it happen).”

��

��