Affiliates in Action – Advancing personal, public, and planetary health
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s health research and innovation community is passionate and driven to improve human health, so we are thrilled to celebrate when their work is recognized through awards, publications, research funding, and media mentions.
IHSI affiliates advance our mission to address personal, public, and planetary health challenges. Through innovative research, meaningful partnerships, community engagement, and a commitment to health equity, Illinois researchers are making a positive impact across campus and beyond.
Responding to environmental health challenges
Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) Research Associate Anuj Tiwari and Prof. Gavin Shaddick of Cardiff University recently received seed funding from DPI and Cardiff University to support iHeatRisk, an individual heat risk toolkit. The interactive toolkit will assess individualized vulnerability to extreme heat and provide clear, actionable steps users can take to stay safe and healthy during heat events. Read the announcement.
Dr. Tiwari also moderated a panel at the Sustainability Research and Innovation (SRI) Congress 2025 in Chicago. The panel, “One Health in Action: A Roadmap for State Implementation to Address Public, Animal, and Environmental Health Challenges,” considered the significance of One Health from the panelists’ respective disciplines. Tiwari said, “Health is not built. It is sustained in the balance shared by humans, animals, and the earth itself.” Read more about the panel.
Leveraging the arts for global dialogue
Congratulations also to Kevin Tan, Associate Dean for Engagement, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Professor, School of Social Work, as well as School of Social Work colleagues Hellen McDonald, Amy Frederick, Katie Shumway, and Krannert Center for the Performing Arts' Samuel Smith (MSW '94) on being the 2025 recipients of the New Approaches to International Area and Global Studies Grant! The team's proposal, “Leveraging the Arts for Global Dialogue: Exploring Racial and Social Transnational Justice through Creative Expression”, is a collaboration between the School of Social Work and Krannert Center and campus partners to launch an arts-based initiative to pilot a sustainable CEU program, foster inclusive dialogue on global racism, and position Illinois as a leader in global studies. See the announcement.
Imaging the hidden impacts of gut inflammation on early brain development
New research from Prof. Sharon Donovan and Prof. Ryan Dilger, published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, explored whether a promising nutritional supplement could help protect brain development in the face of colitis — a chronic inflammatory disease of the digestive tract. Utilizing various neuroimaging modalities, the team examined how experimentally induced colitis affected the brain’s structure and behavior in a neonatal pig model, and whether supplementing with encapsulated tributyrin, a form of butyrate, could mitigate the effects.
By integrating advanced neuroimaging techniques—including structural MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, and myelin water fraction mapping—the study provided robust, region-specific evidence that early-life colitis disrupts brain development and myelination, reinforcing the need for continued research on inflammation-related neurodevelopmental risk using translational imaging models. While structural brain development was altered encapsulated tributyrin did not ameliorate these effects. Prof. Donovan and her colleagues concluded that more research is needed to explore various supplementation delivery mechanisms, how tributyrin supplementation alone impacts brain development, as well as the neurodevelopmental impact of diseases like colitis, “With the expanding prevalence of inflammatory bowel conditions worldwide, this work provides further justification for the importance of investigating pediatric-onset inflammatory bowel diseases.” Read the study.
Building community resilience through storytelling
Congratulations to Shardé McNeil Smith, a professor of human development and family studies, on receiving funding for a project to document intergenerational oral histories within the Black communities of Champaign County, focusing on personal stories of strength, legacy, and resilience.
With support from Community Foundation of East Central Illinois and the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Prof. McNeil Smith will be working with fellow IHSI affiliate Tracy Dace, founding director of DREAAM (Driven to Reach Excellence & Academic Achievement for Males), Dr. Celina Trujillo, IHSI’s research development manager for community-academic partnerships, and Daniel Gray-Kontar, the associate director of arts & cultural programming for Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center (BNAAC) to introduce DREAAM participants and their caregivers on the purpose and significance of oral histories and to train the young people to capture these oral histories on camera.
Dr. Smith aims to foster skill-building, empowerment, and visibility for participants, while promoting legacy-building within the Black community and encouraging deeper understanding and perspective-shifting among non-Black audiences. Stay tuned for more in an upcoming IHSI newsletter!
Opening the door to community-led racial repair conversations
Dr. Jeffrey Trask, founder and operations director of the Champaign County Christian Health Center and President of the C-U Reparations Coalition, appeared as a guest on Illinois Public Media’s “Dialogue” program to discuss local reparations initiatives. During the show, Trask shared his vision of community-led racial repair and the need for open conversations about justice and accountability. Listen to the IPM segment.