How Spartan researchers keep your family healthy

Whether raising children, caring for aging parents or navigating a personal health challenge, everyone deserves answers that make life better. Spartan researchers are finding those answers, turning federal research funding into everyday solutions that help families live longer, healthier lives.

From the first signs of childhood health risks to the realities of chronic illness and elder care, MSU researchers partner with communities to study what keeps us well. With support from federal agencies, their work is advancing treatments, providing actionable health advice, making care more accessible and training the next generation of health care professionals. It’s research that doesn’t stay in the lab — it meets people where they are at every stage of life.

Protecting children’s development

Thousands of families are helping MSU researchers understand how environmental factors like air pollution, chemical exposure and inadequate nutrition impact children’s health and how early interventions can change lives.

In Michigan, 2,000 families are enrolled in ECHO, or Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes, a study created by the National Institutes of Health and led by MSU researcher Jean Kerver. The associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics works to understand how these factors affect children from different backgrounds.

Jean Kerver, an epidemiologist in the MSU College of Human Medicine. Photo credit: Derrick L. Turner

Research in this area is urgent because much is still unknown about how children grow and develop. Studies like ECHO, which began in 2016 and received a $26 million federal grant in 2023 to continue with its second phase, rely on volunteer participants to make progress possible.

Rita Strakovsky, an associate professor in MSU’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, enrolled her toddler in the study. As a participant and an investigator on the ECHO project, Strakovsky is uniquely involved in its mission. “Our ultimate goal is to protect children’s health by understanding the factors that influence how kids grow and develop,” she says. “To learn more, we need to research, not just assume.”

Various studies within ECHO help individuals take targeted actions that positively impact children’s development. An ongoing study headed by Kerver found that one-quarter of pregnant women in mid-Michigan lacked sufficient iodine, a nutrient essential for babies’ brain development. As a result, doctors, including those in rural Michigan, began recommending prenatal supplements that contain iodine because not all prenatal supplements include the chemical element.

Another ECHO study examines the hurdles some women face in maintaining an exclusive breastfeeding practice, which is widely recommended because it provides important maternal and child health benefits. The study aims to develop specific training that could lead to better health for children and mothers.

Recent federal funding cuts threaten studies like ECHO. The long-term nationwide program is conducted by 30 researchers at MSU, the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, Henry Ford Health and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and employs nearly 20 full-time staff statewide.

Reduced funding would hinder efforts to collect data, identify health patterns and develop better treatments that improve children’s lives, says Kerver. “The key to research and science is that progress happens by taking small steps,” she explains.

Read more on MSUToday.

Helping direct care workers in Michigan deliver services to patients

For many Michigan families living with illness or disability, access to in-home requisite care is essential — but the state faces challenges training and retaining direct care workers. While 190,000 direct care workers currently serve residents, at least 36,000 more are needed to address the critical shortage.

The IMPART Alliance, housed in MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, is committed to helping Michigan address this gap by improving training, credentials and career pathways through its career center. The alliance also advocates for improved wages, benefits and job security for direct care workers at the state level.

In 2024, MSU received a $25 million grant administered by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

Clare Luz, executive director of the IMPART Alliance and leading faculty researcher, calls the grant “historic and game-changing.” She emphasizes the need to support aging populations in Michigan and across the U.S. who require high-quality, lower cost supports and services at home, where most people prefer to live for as long as possible in their later years.

Raising the workforce’s minimum wage, a goal IMPART was able to achieve by working with other groups like the Direct Care Worker Wage Coalition, was crucial. Direct care worker Jennifer Lugo completed her direct care associate’s certificate at the IMPART Alliance last year and has become a passionate advocate for her profession. “There’s no greater joy than being able to walk into someone’s home and change their whole perspective, give them a love and a peace of mind that they would never have otherwise.”

Lugo started caretaking at 14 when her grandmother had cancer. When her mother battled dementia, Lugo took on her care for 16 years. After 20 years of working in the field and raising three kids, Lugo experienced financial and emotional stressors. She says, “This training and infrastructure is going to change the face of the field. It’s going to provide the livable wages, wellness and the mental health support that we need.”

Read more on MSUToday.

Preventing silent diseases before they strike

Mat Reeves, professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Photo credit: MSU College of Human Medicine

Good health later in life relies on prevention, treatment and education, especially for diseases like stroke that develop slowly and disproportionately affect certain populations.

Stroke in women is one example. In the U.S., approximately one in five women will experience a stroke in her lifetime, compared to one in six men. Yet, one of the first papers addressing the topic wasn’t published until 2008 — and it had a sizeable role in the subsequent explosion of research on stroke in women.

MSU researcher Mat Reeves is the author of that pivotal study, which has been cited over 1,000 times and has led to the development of clinical treatment guidelines.

“There is no doubt that there is now much more awareness of the impact of stroke on women, its greater burden and the unique sex-specific factors related to pregnancy and menopause that are important for prevention,” says Reeves, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics who received an NIH award to organize a conference in Washington, D.C., last April, the first dedicated to the topic in almost 20 years.

Reeves and colleagues, including those at the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association, have laid the foundation for stroke prevention in the U.S. — the most effective way to reduce stroke-related deaths. While national data on reduced incidence remains limited, studies show positive trends, underscoring the need to continue this critical work.

Improving life quality for individuals living with illness

For some diseases, prevention and symptom reduction are the ultimate research goals — especially when a cure remains out of reach. That’s the case with Parkinson’s disease, the second most common neurodegenerative disease, affecting one in 100 people over 60. In Michigan, 35,000 individuals live with the condition.  

For more than a decade, Kathy Steece-Collier, professor of translational neuroscience in the College of Human Medicine, has led the charge in making Parkinson’s a more treatable disease and improving the lives of those affected. She and her team are working toward a promising gene therapy that could reduce and even reverse symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, potentially even preventing the progression of the condition.

Since 2015, their research has received funding from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the NIH, allowing Steece-Collier’s team to develop and rigorously test their hypothesis that silencing overactivity in specific calcium channels in the brain could improve medication benefits, reverse symptoms and prevent progression. But for the treatment to reach individuals with the disease, much more needs to happen.

“Taking this research from the laboratory toward the goal of a clinical trial isn’t possible without NIH funding,” says Steece-Collier. “If what has been awarded through the NIH is no longer guaranteed, the ability to bring this unprecedented therapy to those in need will be jeopardized.”

Beyond the lab and the clinic, Steece-Collier and her team engage directly with individuals with Parkinson’s and their caregivers. At the 2025 Parkinson Hero Walks, sponsored by the Michigan Parkinson Foundation, speakers shared everyday challenges during a symposium.

“It’s easy to lose sight of the individuals your research is aimed at treating,” says Steece-Collier about the importance of interacting with affected individuals and their caregivers amid the pressures of the scientific discovery process. “We need to publish, get grants, and we’re trying to figure out the science in the lab. But hearing what individuals with the disease are dealing with in the day-to-day is very powerful. It helps us to keep searching for solutions so they can have the quality of life we all hope for.”

Watch the video.

Protecting health across generations takes time, energy and collaboration. It starts with decades of dedicated academic research by dedicated teams and volunteers who make clinical trials and studies possible. It continues through the work of doctors, nurses and care workers who deliver treatments, hands-on care and medical advice to individuals in need. Research happening at MSU, thanks to the vital federal funding that supports it, moves us closer to achieving real-world health advancement for millions.

Read more stories about how MSU researchers are protecting family health.

For generations, Spartans have been changing the world through research. Federal funding helps power many of the discoveries that improve lives and keep America at the forefront of innovation and competitiveness. From lifesaving cancer treatments to solutions that advance technology, agriculture, energy and more, MSU researchers work every day to shape a better future for the people of Michigan and beyond. Learn more about MSU’s research impact powered by partnership with the federal government.