Sustainable Health

Michigan State’s approach to advancing health and excellence in health education has consistently focused on people, communities, partnerships and innovative thinking. These themes will continue as we work boldly across disciplines and collaborate seamlessly with partners, improving health across Michigan and beyond while tripling funding from the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control.

With its land-grant roots, contemporary strengths, collaborative mindset and partnership practices, Michigan State University is uniquely positioned to lead and shape the future of health. MSU has created a national model for improving health and well-being in communities with our groundbreaking public health initiative based in Flint and developed an innovative new way to couple medical education and research at our medical school campuses in Grand Rapids and Flint.

Sustainable health is a holistic state of physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Our intention is to improve the health of all Michigan residents and people everywhere and to reduce health disparities.

Our strengths in human health, animal health, environmental health, and more allow us to take an integrated One Health approach that advances sustainable health through a holistic lens. This powerful alignment of assets is better at anticipating the next pandemic, preparing for emerging infectious diseases and advancing treatment through innovation.

Our multiple strong medical and health colleges also provide unique opportunities to envision the future of health education to create the highest-quality care while addressing workforce shortages. Finally, our expanding partnerships — with communities, health care organizations, government agencies and other academic institutions — will amplify and extend our impact. 

Goal: Enhance quality of life for people everywhere by comprehensively leveraging expertise and research activity to improve health and the systems that affect health
 

One

Advance health education and accelerate health research to meet the needs of Michigan and the nation

Strategies/Actions

• Explore a unified medical college that maintains both osteopathic and allopathic degrees while enhancing interprofessional education
• Explore a unified research agenda leveraging each college’s strengths
• Enhance the student and trainee experience through shared student services and clinical preparation
• Explore establishing an Institute for Biomedical Research to enable high-impact research, attract funding and enhance institutional reputation
• Explore a College of Health Professions that melds the strengths of MSU’s health and related curricula to better harness the power of collaboration and address urgent workforce needs
• Articulate the many educational pathways to a career in health that help prospective students understand how to achieve their vision of a career in this field 

Two

Engage the full university in a comprehensive approach to improving health

Strategies/Actions

• Promote the central role of the arts and education in sustainable health by fostering intellectual curiosity and openness to new ideas, understanding and inclusion
• Augment holistic wellness throughout life, including factors affecting health (e.g., economic well-being, education, environment, nutrition, etc.)
• Be best in class in prevention, reporting and response to relationship violence and sexual misconduct, incorporating the recommendations of the RVSM Workgroup (recommendations may be found by visiting msu.edu/ourcommitment/rvsm-workgroup)
• Integrate and articulate health considerations into university decision- and policymaking
• Develop a model for comprehensive delivery of university health care services
• Increase animal welfare initiatives in agriculture and agricultural/aquacultural sustainable practices for responsible and reliable protein sources for a growing human population

Three

Partner with communities and organizations to reduce disparate health outcomes across Michigan 

Strategies/Actions

• Advance policies and interventions that reduce barriers to care and advance equitable outcomes in health care provided by MSU and our community partners
• Work with community and other partners to reduce identified barriers for all across the state of Michigan
• Increase engagement, trust and participation of individuals from the most vulnerable communities in clinical research

Four

Work with health and business partners across Michigan to ensure patients and families have access to equitable, high-quality, affordable and safe health care

Strategies/Actions

• Drive excellence and innovation in the next generation of education and research addressing the most pressing health challenges, including cancer care, and across Michigan’s rural and urban communities
• Partner with communities, the state, universities and health care institutions to make addiction medicine and behavioral health accessible to all Michiganders
• Use public-private partnerships to hasten the pace of bringing health innovations to those in need, provide greater access to resources and opportunities for students, faculty and staff, and foster economic development in our region