Spirit of collaboration: Health research and innovation across Illinois institutes and beyond

11/8/2024 Bridget Melton

Written by Bridget Melton

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 continues its 10 years of health celebration, we are highlighting the Illinois spirit of collaboration that is foundational to our institute and our research enterprise. This emphasis on collaboration is how Illinois researchers, units, and partners come together to improve personal, public, and planetary health. 

 10 Years of Health Collaboration at Illinois

Illinois’ ten campuswide research institutes exemplify what it means to be grounded in collaboration. The institutes transcend boundaries to elevate ideas, drive discovery, and push the limits of knowledge.

Over the last 10 years, IHSI’s collaborations with fellow Illinois research institutes have allowed us to create synergies and strengthen our impact in health research and innovation. We continue to build these relationships and create opportunities together.

Developing research leaders 

The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology is a long-standing partner for IHSI and home to several health-related interdisciplinary research teams (including those led by IHSI Director Steve Boppart), as well as the campus home for IHSI and Cancer Center at Illinois. Beckman fosters interdisciplinary collaboration, inspires bold scientific risk-taking, and nurtures new ideas and discoveries, making the institute an ideal partner for launching the Emerging Research Leaders Academy. The program provides vital leadership and team science training to help faculty pursue large, multi-PI grants, lead campus research initiatives, and enhance their own research programs.

“We rely on successful collaborations with several colleagues across campus. These collaborations are possible because of the tremendous collaborative environment and support at Illinois.” 

Naiman Khan, professor of health and kinesiology 

Building interdisciplinary teams 

Shortly after its launch in 2020, IHSI teamed up with the C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute to help facilitate the formation of research teams for its first call for proposals: Mitigation of COVID-19 and Future Pandemics. The C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute is a research consortium dedicated to accelerating the benefits of artificial intelligence for business, government, and society.

Focusing research efforts 

IHSI was established in 2014 with three primary research program areas: Clinical and Translational Neuroscience, Precision Medicine, and Cancer. The Cancer Community, an active group of Illinois faculty led by Prof. Rohit Bhargava, continued to grow into the Cancer Center at Illinois, gaining recognition as a campuswide institute. CCIL’s many efforts to initiate and harness the combined power of engineering and basic sciences to transform cancer research, detection, and treatment have led to much success in this critical area of health research and innovation, including large, multi-principal investigator activities, cancer funding, and collaborations with clinical partners.

“I can’t think of a better place to do research. This campus has so many research resources…plus the culture and support necessary for integrative multidisciplinary work. But most important are the colleagues who are working on exciting and relevant science and willing to collaborate or even just chat anytime.”

Katy Heath, professor of plant biology

Training healthcare innovators 

Genomics is a cornerstone of health and wellness research, and foundational to our partnership with Mayo Clinic. The Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology is a pioneer for several health and wellness-related research themes, with nationally recognized outreach and public engagement programs. Together, we offer an annual short course through the Mayo Clinic & Illinois Alliance, Computational Genomics, providing valuable training to Illinois and Mayo Clinic scientists and clinicians In 2018, IGB and IHSI teamed up with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation and Department of Microbiology to launch the Microbial Systems Initiative under the leadership of Prof. Cari Vanderpool.

“One of the advantages of being a part of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is the spirit of interdisciplinary collaboration. Whenever you can work with and learn from faculty expertise and perspective that is distinct from your own, new questions emerge along with the excitement that comes from new terrain being explored.”

Jason Ridlon, professor of animal sciences

 Fostering community-academic research partnerships 

Much of IHSI’s collaboration with the Center for Social & Behavioral Science is through community-engagement efforts. CSBS supports innovative social and behavioral science from diverse disciplines to address major societal challenges, including those related to health and well-being. IHSI and CSBS were early collaborators for the Community-Academic Scholars program, empowering students to be part of community-based research projects that make a difference in our community. Together with the College of Education, our Community-Engaged Research Series aims to build and enhance the experience of community-engaged researchers across campus and provide them with the skills and resources needed to impact research in this space.

“Being part of the Illinois community has been great because of the opportunities for interdisciplinary collaborations. I have learned a great deal speaking with my colleagues in other departments and colleges. I am also often amazed by how much our programs of research overlap yet are distinct enough to make substantive contributions toward understanding the many factors that will help us achieve health equity.”

Carla Hunter, professor of psychology 

Responding to community needs 

The Humanities Research Institute is the lifeblood of humanities research on the Urbana campus, providing funding — through fellowships, internships, and programmatic support — and a forum for tackling big questions and imagining bold, human-centered approaches to working for change. Because the understanding of humanity and the human experience is imperative to human health innovation, the work of our institutes are complementary and intersectional. IHSI and HRI’s shared interests in promoting positive change and removing barriers to community engagement concretely came together in our support of We CU. Students participating in the Humanities in Action program frequently apply their humanities training to address health-related community needs.

Creating a better future 

Launched as part of the same campus strategic initiative responsible for the establishment of IHSI, the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment works to find solutions for the ever-growing demand for food, water, and energy while ensuring a safe, productive, and sustainable environment for all global citizens. iSEE brings together the necessary expertise to address our global and environmental health challenges, an area of critical priority to Illinois and in today’s research funding and innovation landscape. In 2023, IHSI collaborated with iSEE and the Prairie Research Institute to put forth a successful Investment for Growth proposal for the Center for Advanced Climate Solutions, and IHSI remains a partner in this center, along with CSBS, IGB, and NCSA, to address the generational and grand challenges caused by climate change.

“Illinois is a place that really values interdisciplinary scholarship, which makes for a rich intellectual environment that fosters innovative and meaningful research.”

— Ryan Wade, professor of social work

Revolutionizing clinical care 

The National Center for Supercomputing Applications uses computing, software, data science, visualization, artificial intelligence, and information security to drive the latest advances in healthcare, with many healthcare projects aligning through the Healthcare Innovation Program Office led by Dr. Colleen Bushell. NCSA’s expertise in data analytics, software development, and visualizations drives health innovation as evidenced through our partnership in the Mayo Clinic & Illinois Alliance, with several experts from NCSA involved in leadership, steering committees, and translational collaborations. NCSA is integral in the MarginDx project to create an end-to-end solution that will drastically improve surgical outcomes for cancer tumor removal, with an up to $33 million award from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)

Expanding our health framework 

In addition to IHSI and others’ partnership with Prairie Research Institute to launch the Center for Advanced Climate Solutions, experts at IHSI and PRI have recently collaborated on grant proposals and are working to establish more opportunities for collaboration under two ideologies and frameworks critical to Illinois’ interdisciplinary health mission. The first, One Health, defines and illustrates how our human health is intimately connected with the health of the animals in our environment, as well as the health of the environment and planet. The second is captured in the Exposome, which represents the collective set of exposures, lifestyles, behaviors, stimuli, experiences, food sources, and contaminants that we as individuals have interacted with throughout our lifetime – and the intersection of these with our genome. PRI helps policymakers, communities, companies, and people make sound decisions about our natural and cultural resources through scientific research, expertise, data, and services.