Health from all angles: Celebrating health researchers and innovators across campus

The Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute launched in 2014 as a campus strategic initiative to better coordinate major research and outreach efforts in health toward a significant and visible societal impact. As IHSI celebrates 10 years of health, we are featuring health researchers and innovators across campus. These faces represent the many disciplines and perspectives that come together at Illinois to improve personal, public, and planetary health challenges. 

Researchers in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) improve nutrition from farm to table, combat disease and bolster immune function, and align human and environmental health. With the growing impact of climate change and the ongoing inequities in access to food across both in the US and abroad, Crop Sciences Professor Andrew Margenot’s research on soil systems is foundational to both global and human health. Prof. Margenot advances how we monitor and manage soils as natural capital. His research team evaluates how human activities can enhance or compromise soil services to human societies, with an emphasis on agroecosystems in the U.S. Midwest and the tropics. Prof. Margenot is also participating in the 2024–25 Emerging Research Leaders Academy with IHSI. 

The College of Applied Health Sciences is home to many of our campus’ health sciences researchers, but it might be most well-known for its legacy of establishing and advancing interdisciplinary disability research. Matthew Hanks, a professor of health and kinesiology, is keeping that legacy strong by examining how physical activity influences shoulder musculoskeletal health and function in manual wheelchair users. Hanks is affiliate faculty with Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES), leveraging his laboratory’s research capabilities to improve the health and performance of students, student-athletes, and Paralympians living with physical disabilities at the University of Illinois. Dr. Hanks was a member of IHSI’s 2024 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grant Writing Series cohort.

Gies College of Business is another important hub of health research. Gies faculty play pivotal roles in improving healthcare delivery, assessing risk, and helping to get crucial healthcare innovations to the people who need it most through translational entrepreneurship. Among the Gies faculty who focus on health is Ujjal Mukherjee, a professor of business administration. Prof. Mukherjee applies data analytics, econometrics, and modeling tools to improve healthcare management and delivery. His research spans robotic surgical technology, precision medicine for multiple myeloma, and chronic care optimization, and he has worked with researchers from several healthcare organizations including Mayo Clinic and the Health Partners group. He also collaborated with SHIELD Illinois to model COVID-19-related challenges, including super-spreader prediction and optimal mitigation strategies.

From examining how people learn information about their personal, community, and global health, to advancing STEM education, and even understanding the role that educators play in shaping the health and well-being of students, College of Education faculty are advancing health research to address a number of important challenges. Nidia Ruedas-Gracia, a professor of educational psychology, seeks to develop a nuanced understanding of what it means to "belong" and how this sense of belonging impacts life outcomes such as academic performance, mental health, and physical health. She explores these concepts among culturally diverse populations and examines how sense of belonging experiences vary by social identities such as gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Prof. Ruedas-Gracia was also a member of IHSI’s 2024 NIH Grant Writing Series cohort.

By detecting diseases, enhancing the patient experience, and managing vast amounts of data produced by healthcare applications, The Grainger College of Engineering is bringing exciting advances to healthcare and medical technology, climate health, sustainable agriculture, and more. Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Lav Varshney‘s research focuses on improving health, welfare, and happiness in society. His work spans multiple domains, including the food pipeline, public health, education, epigenetics, and materials discovery. One of Prof. Varshney’s latest projects is Kocree’s “Music Mosaic” (Muosaic), an AI-powered platform that enables music lovers to listen, sing, and compose together through immersive, personalized gameplay. Prof. Varshney spent a year serving as a prestigious White House Fellow and also underscores the role that music can play in improving human health and well-being.

Research in the arts and applied arts research are increasingly growing areas of focus for the College of Fine and Applied Arts. Researchers in FAA are examining the roles of art and artists in building healthy communities, developing positive self-identity, and even imagining healthier futures. Nekita Thomas, a professor of graphic design and design for responsible innovation, uses design to address complex social issues, including race and well-being. Her work empowers communities to create healthy environments through anti-racist design solutions, blending art, design, and social practice. Projects like Superbold and Supergraphic Landscapes engage communities in reimagining neglected urban spaces, fostering civic advocacy, and promoting well-being through participatory design workshops.

The School of Labor and Employment Relations is home to a number of faculty whose research impacts employee safety, health, and wellness and the healthcare work force. Among those researchers is Amit Kramer, a professor of labor and employment relations and associate dean for online graduate education. His program of research explores the complex relationship between work, family responsibilities, and the employee’s physical and psychological health and well-being, with a focus on the effectiveness of family-friendly policies in supporting both organizational and individual outcomes. Prof. Kramer also examines the interplay between inequality in the workplace and how it interacts with inequality outside the workplace and how these factors impact employee health, well-being, and organizational success.

College of Law researchers and scholars are analyzing health policy, exploring the legal and ethical implications of technologies, and investigating how law and policy can address social determinants of health and improve health outcomes. Sara Gerke is a Professor of Law and Richard W. & Marie L. Corman Scholar whose research focuses on the ethical and legal challenges of artificial intelligence and big data for healthcare and health law in the United States and Europe. Prof. Gerke also researches comparative law and ethics of other issues at the cutting edge of medical developments, such as the clinical translation of stem cell research; biological products, such as somatic cells, tissues, and gene therapy; reproductive medicine, such as mitochondrial replacement techniques; and digital health more generally.

The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences has long been a campus leader in health-related research and teaching. The college is home to researchers who are advancing diagnostics, treatments, and prevention techniques and exploring ways to better train healthcare professionals. Among those scholars is Jessica Brinkworth, a professor of anthropology. Prof. Brinkworth’s research focuses on understanding why some people experience severe infections while others do not. Her lab explores how human evolution and life experiences, such as job stress, shape immune system function, health and diseases, with a particular focus on sepsis and immune diversity. Prof. Brinkworth also works to improve climate health by developing protocols that minimize plastic waste and enhance land resiliency.

School of Information Sciences (iSchool) faculty address key challenges at the intersection of people, information, technology, and health. Researchers are developing tools to improve the quality and accessibility of biomedical research, supporting patient care and health behavior change, and even creating public health monitoring and disease detections systems. Information Sciences Professor Halil Kilicoglu’s research focuses on understanding how computers can process and make sense of language, especially in biomedical texts. He uses artificial intelligence (AI) methods to uncover and organize important information from text, which could help improve biomedical research and healthcare outcomes. Prof. Kilicoglu was also part of the first cohort of the Emerging Research Leaders Academy.

Researchers in the College of Media are examining at the interplay between media and human behavior, evaluating the effectiveness of health campaigns, and considering how we can leverage digital tools to improve scientific literacy. Advertising Professor Sang-Hwa Oh is an interdisciplinary researcher who aims to enhance media literacy, promote informed public discourse, and combat misinformation to advance public health through innovative communication strategies. Prof. Oh examines the effects of emerging media technologies, like AI and VR, and scrutinizes the dissemination of health and risk misinformation. Her more recent work is focused on empowering communities to effectively navigate health crises and develop resilient, informed responses, particularly in the context of emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Carle Illinois College of Medicine faculty are building innovation and research platforms that enable faculty and students to tackle the unmet patient and community health needs through human-centered design thinking, medical technologies, and entrepreneurship. Suguna Pappu, M.D., Ph.D. is a board-certified neurosurgeon, professor, and the director for student research for Carle Illinois. Her clinical expertise includes neck and back problems, hydrocephalus, and trauma. Dr. Pappu’s research is translational with application of mathematical modeling techniques to neurophysiology, clinical outcomes, and medical image analysis. The focus of her research program is to develop quantitative models that can be used in clinical decision-making for conditions like hydrocephalus. Dr. Pappu was also a member of IHSI’s most recent cohort for the NIH Grant Writing Series.

Informed by an equity framework, health research at the School of Social Work is broadly defined as a state in which all individuals have access to the resources necessary to achieve social, physical, and psychological well-being. Social Work Professor Ryan Wade investigates how social determinants of health, structural racism, and the racial patterning of sexual and social networks within LGBTQ+ communities contribute to health disparities. His research examines how stressors like discrimination and stigma affect mental health outcomes, particularly for young racially and sexually minoritized men of color, in hopes that such visibility will validate the lived experiences of these communities, inspire readers to be attentive to systemic injustices, and inform the development of health promotion initiatives aimed at mitigating and/or eliminating health disparities among these populations.

In the College of Veterinary Medicine, veterinarians and biomedical scientists are collaborating across disciplines most critical concerns arising at the intersection of human, animal, and environmental health. Becky Smith, a professor of epidemiology, focuses on infectious disease surveillance, forecasting, and control within a One Health framework. She develops mathematical models to study disease transmission at the human-animal-environment interface, particularly in vector-borne, water-borne, and zoonotic diseases. A key member of the SHIELD Team, Dr. Smith helped develop the saliva-based COVID-19 test that enabled schools and businesses to safely reopen early in the pandemic. She also co-leads a multidisciplinary project on wastewater monitoring to detect infectious diseases like COVID-19 and potential future pathogens. Dr. Smith is also a member of the 2024–25 Emerging Research Leaders Academy.