The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation has announced a $25 million grant to the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University (MSU) in support of public health initiatives in Flint.

The largest single grant in the college’s history will create an endowment to fund additional public health faculty, increase academic research, and bolster community health collaborations. Since 2014, MSU’s Flint-based public health experts have implemented programs and research initiatives, one of which led to the crucial discovery by Mona Hanna-Attisha in 2015 of elevated blood lead levels in children following a switch in the city’s water source and improper treatment of the water. Hanna-Attisha has since headed up work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Flint Lead Exposure Registry and successfully advocated for inclusion of the National Fruit and Vegetable Pediatric Prescription program in the 2018 Farm Bill. MSU’s experts also have worked with community partners to develop programs to mitigate chronic diseases, identify environmental health risks, and examine the social factors that influence community health.

“Our researchers have worked side-by-side with the Flint community to improve lives locally and in communities across the country,” said Aron Sousa, interim dean of the MSU College of Human Medicine. “Our work in Flint across the city’s water crisis, COVID-19, nutrition, and mental health has become a national model. We are grateful to the Mott Foundation for recognizing this innovative public health opportunity and supporting its further growth.”

The Mott Foundation’s latest grant is in addition to grants totaling $12 million awarded between 2011 and 2013 for the college’s expansion and relocation of its public health program from East Lansing to Flint.

“Expanding MSU’s public health program in Flint is a great thing for the community, and it also will yield important lessons for our state and nation as we struggle with both emergent and chronic health challenges,” said Mott Foundation president and CEO Ridgway White. “MSU’s work in Flint is a wonderful example of what can happen when physicians, researchers, residents, and community advocates work together to improve health.”

(Photo credit: Michigan State University)