The Emerging Opportunities in Health program selected eight awardees, providing seed funding to support the initial development of each project. Created by the University of Notre Dame’s Community Health and Clinical Partnerships (CHCP), this program aimed to increase collaboration between Notre Dame and community organizations, address local health concerns through targeted research projects, and make funding rapidly available to health-focused projects that mutually benefited community organizations and the University.
“This funding opportunity has enabled collaborative research ideas to move from conversations to reality,” said Jessica Brookshire, director of CHCP. “Through providing seed funding, the Emerging Opportunities in Health program is allowing Notre Dame researchers and community partners to begin novel projects that address key health and wellness issues in our region.”
Notre Dame Research matched funding provided by a donor to fund the eight selected projects.
Through providing the opportunity to build collaborative relationships and demonstrate initial project results, the funding program was designed to enable researchers to competitively pursue additional funding opportunities to expand their research. The eight funded projects engaged 11 community partners. The Emerging Opportunities grant funding periods of seven of these projects have concluded, and one is ongoing. The selected awards are as follows:
Understanding parents’ impacts on infant biology and early development
Lee Gettler, the Rev. John A. O’Brien College Professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology, collaborated with Beacon Children's Hospital (part of Beacon Health System) on a project titled “Parents’ Mental Well-Being, Social Support, and Psychobiology on the Beacon Children's Hospital NICU: Links with Parenting and Infant Neurodevelopment.” This project was part of an ongoing collaboration between Gettler’s Hormones, Health, and Human Behavior Laboratory and clinicians from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Beacon Children’s Hospital in South Bend. It explored three main areas, including: the connection between the social support NICU parents received and their mental well-being, links between pre- and post-partum mental well-being and parenting, and the relationships between infants’ epigenetic profiles, social and physical development, and parents’ social and behavioral profiles.
Additional funding was granted through the Berthiaume Institute for Precision Health and the Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society.
Developing local resources for opioid harm reduction
Marya Lieberman, Nancy Dee Collegiate Professor of Cancer Research in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, collaborated with Naxos Neighbors and Imani Unidad, Inc. on a project titled “Development of Community Resources for Opioid Harm Reduction in Saint Joseph County.” This project aimed to bring together Notre Dame, South Bend, and St. Joseph County stakeholders to address multiple aims, including developing a resource map to identify gaps in opioid harm reduction in the county, convening community meetings to increase transparency and develop response strategies, and piloting activities to strengthen rapid detection and response to opioids locally.
The project completed these objectives, and additional funding was granted through the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute; the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society; Remedy Alliance; Indiana Healthy Opportunities for People Everywhere (I-HOPE); and the Overdose Data To Action program, Franklin County Department of Public Health.
Learning more about nutritional recommendations for those living with HIV
Michael Reger, associate professor of the practice in the Eck Institute for Global Health, collaborated with Health Plus Indiana on a project titled “Nutrient Intake Differences Based on HIV Status.” This project explored how a previous recommendation for higher caloric intake to prevent wasting in people living with HIV (PLWH) might inadvertently increase the risk for secondary chronic conditions, due to an increased consumption of nutrients linked to those illnesses. The results showed that PLWH are more likely to exceed the recommended daily allowance of nutrients associated with chronic conditions, suggesting that alternative recommendations for addressing wasting may be beneficial. The relationship formed in the study has led to collaboration on an additional project.
Improving postpartum care
Yenupini Joyce Adams, associate professor of the practice and global maternal research lead in the Eck Institute for Global Health and concurrent associate professor of the practice in the Keough School of Global Affairs, collaborated with Beacon Community Impact, Elkhart General Hospital, Memorial Hospital of South Bend, and Beacon Medical Group (all part of Beacon Health System) on a project titled “A New Approach to Care After Birth: Development of a Group Model of Postpartum Care in the United States.” To address high maternal mortality in Indiana, this project aimed to develop an adapted Focused Postpartum Care model for the Indiana context. Workshops were convened with stakeholders across Beacon Health System in St. Joseph and Elkhart Counties to adapt the model, revise the education guide, and establish plans for pilot implementation.
The project completed these objectives, and additional funding was granted through the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Elevance Health Foundation, to pilot the adapted Focused Postpartum Care model in Indiana, and the Kellogg Institute for International Studies.
Reducing redundancies in local health programs
Matthew Sisk, director of the Civic-Geospatial Analysis and Learning Lab and associate professor of the practice in the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society, collaborated with the Health Improvement Alliance of St. Joseph County, which has leadership representation from community organizations across sectors, on a project titled “A Community Dashboard to Enable Monitoring of Local Health Indicators.” This project piloted a Health Indicator Data Dashboard for the Michiana region, designed to serve as a comprehensive platform for monitoring and interpreting health data. The dashboard enables healthcare professionals, researchers, non-profit organizations, and policymakers to access, analyze, and understand health-related data efficiently. The dashboard is available on the Health Improvement Alliance’s website and, at the time of this article’s publication, it is being used to support the first Joint Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) in Northern Indiana.
Additional funding was granted through Beacon Health System Community Impact.
Supporting the addiction recovery of single mothers
Todd Whitmore, associate professor in the Department of Theology and a concurrent professor in the Department of Anthropology, collaborated with the YWCA of North Central Indiana, Upper Room Recovery, and St. Joseph County Public Library on a project titled “The Effects of Removing Barriers to Peer Support on the Recovery Capital of Single Mothers.” This project, which allowed Whitmore to scale a self-funded study from six to 70 participants, aimed to determine the impact of peer support on single mothers attempting to move from active addiction to recovery. The study combined two to three weekly support group meetings and 140 hour-long interviews and revealed significant insight related to the onset of severe addiction that will be explored in future publications.
Additional funding was granted through the Franco Family Institute for Liberal Arts and the Public Good.
Improving collaboration between local social service providers
Sisk also collaborated with the St. Joseph County Department of Health on a project titled “Improving Social Service System Efficiency through a Novel, Real-Time Data Sharing System.” This project piloted a live community data collection process across multiple service provider organizations in St. Joseph County to improve the collaborative capacity of local service providers and the reach of social services that work to prevent and address Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). The research team developed a data collection tool and process; however, collaborating community organizations were not able to use the tool consistently due to external factors. This research provided valuable considerations for future projects.
Identifying communications gaps to reduce infant mortality rates
Kaylin Hill, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, and Kristine Joy Chua, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, are collaborating with Beacon Community Impact (part of Beacon Health System) through the St. Joseph County Fetal Infant Mortality Review (FIMR) program on a project titled the “Patient–Provider Communication Study.” This project aims to address communication gaps that may relate to the high fetal and infant mortality rates in St. Joseph County, which disproportionately impact Black women. To address these challenges, this study will identify key communication gaps between patients and providers to offer practical, culturally responsive interventions that could improve perinatal care, build trust, and reduce structural inequities in maternal and infant health outcomes. This project is ongoing with an April 2027 end date.
For updates on Notre Dame’s Community Health and Clinical Partnerships, please visit: https://chcp.nd.edu/
Contact
Stephanie Loney / Research Communications Specialist
Notre Dame Research / University of Notre Dame
sloney@nd.edu / 574.631.7804
About CHCP
Community Health and Clinical Partnerships (CHCP) aims to identify and support opportunities to connect individual research programs to broad, significant, and emerging health-related challenges to improve the health and well-being of the local community. Consistent with the University's research mission, CHCP aims to fulfill this vision by supporting projects across disciplines.