Saving lives with public health research

By John Meeker

Senior Associate Dean for Research

University of Michigan School of Public Health

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At the University of Michigan School of Public Health, our most profound achievements sometimes go unnoticed. That’s the paradox of successful public health—when it works perfectly, nothing happens. Disease outbreaks are prevented, injuries don’t occur, and communities remain healthy without ever knowing what might have been.

Just over 70 years ago, on April 12, 1955, Dr. Thomas Francis Jr. stood outside the University of Michigan’s Rackham Auditorium and announced to an eager crowd that the polio vaccine developed by his former student, Dr. Jonas Salk, was “safe, effective and potent.” This historic moment marked the culmination of Francis’ unprecedented two-year national field trials, which enrolled more than 1,800,000 children. It ushered in a new era where families no longer lived in fear of polio—a disease that has since been nearly eradicated globally.

The polio vaccine breakthrough represents just one chapter in the remarkable story of public health research. Behind each healthy community lies countless silent victories—vehicle safety standards that prevent injuries, tobacco regulations that reduce disease and prevent death, environmental protections that safeguard from harmful contamination, and preventive screenings that catch cancers early, when they are most treatable. These advances rarely make headlines, yet they fundamentally improve the human experience.

Researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health work tirelessly on a wide range of challenges, from cancer and Alzheimer’s disease to opioid addiction and mental health disorders. They are not just studying these problems—they are finding ways to prevent conditions, improve treatments and break down barriers to quality care. But significant breakthroughs rarely happen in isolation or overnight. It takes years of diligence, expertise, and collaboration to solve tough problems.

With more than $100 million in annual research expenditures—the highest research expenditure per faculty member of any unit at the University of Michigan—the School of Public Health is home to more than 30 research centers and initiatives. Our work transforms communities by ensuring people have access to clean air and water, healthy foods, and quality healthcare. We analyze policy impacts, design safer workplaces, and prepare for emerging health threats—creating environments where all people can thrive. The work happening in our laboratories and research centers powers remarkable progress—steadily increasing life expectancy, enhancing quality of life, and pioneering treatments or other interventions that were once unimaginable.

Essential to these achievements is our longstanding partnership with federal agencies. Support from the NIH, CDC, and other federal agencies—which represented more than 85% of the $110 million we spent conducting high-impact research  last year—enables discoveries that would otherwise be impossible. This collaboration is an investment in a healthier future for our country, yielding returns that can be measured in lives saved. Public health research is a public good that benefits all of society. It is done best when supported by public investment.

These investments do more than save lives. Students at all levels have the opportunity to get involved in research projects and work directly with faculty members and researchers on groundbreaking initiatives—ensuring that our next generation of scientists and public health leaders can address our most pressing challenges. Research at the School of Public Health also represents an investment into the Michigan economy each year, bringing spending and jobs to our state.

In this newsletter, you’ll learn about epidemiologists who are monitoring the spread of infectious diseases to help keep communities healthy, and about a researcher who is addressing childhood hunger by working directly with Michigan parents facing food insecurity to find solutions to allow them to feed their families with dignity. You’ll also read about an environmental health expert who is partnering with Apple to study noise exposure and its impact on our hearing and overall health.

Additionally, School of Public Health researchers are working to stop the gun violence epidemic with proven solutions that have bipartisan support, harnessing machine learning to predict disease risk, investigating the spread of fungal infections due to climate change, and mores.

Public health is fundamentally about people—your life, your wellbeing, your future. Every day, our researchers ask not just what we can discover, but how our discoveries can transform lives in Michigan, across the United States and throughout the world. We measure our success beyond grants or publications; we are most interested in how our research leads to healthier communities, reduced suffering and lives saved. This human impact drives everything we do.

The legacy of Francis and Salk reminds us that today’s public health research has the potential to become tomorrow’s life saving intervention. The research they conducted decades ago continues to save lives today—to the point that polio is something most of us rarely think about. By investing in public health research today, we’re creating a healthier world for generations to come.