About the Alliance
Since 2009, Michigan State University and Corewell Health in Grand Rapids have funded more than $27 million in exploratory and developmental research projects – bringing together the clinical and scientific strengths of both institutions.
The Corewell Health – MSU Alliance Corporation was incorporated in 2006 as an agreement between Spectrum Health (now Corewell Health) and Michigan State University to collaborate on medical education and basic science and translational medical research initiatives.
Established as a 501c3 organization, the Alliance was created to support a joint recruitment strategy to fund physicians and researchers who would serve as College of Human Medicine faculty, as well as contribute to Corewell Health’s aggressive agenda for clinical research. Corewell Health and Michigan State University each agreed to fund up to $2 million annually to recruit basic science and clinical researchers and joint research initiatives.
At its inception, the Alliance reflected Corewell Health’s commitment to support the expansion of the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in Grand Rapids, including a $55 million investment in building support for the opening of the Secchia Center medical education facility in 2010.
The first area the Alliance invested in was women’s health, followed by pediatrics and human development, and neuroscience. Today, this collaborative effort offers significant benefits to patients in West Michigan and beyond for access to breakthrough therapies and treatments. Examples of success include:
- NIH funding:
- Corewell Health-MSU Alliance grant $200,000/yr from 2018-2023 (PIs: Cristian Meghea, PhD, and Lee Anne Roman, PhD, from the MSU College of Human Medicine, and Peggy Vander Meulen of Corewell Health)
ROI: $1M returned $38M of which $29M resulted in NIH and HRSA Funding
Impact
Discovery and treatment of Bachmann-Bupp syndrome
Bachmann and collaborators named Inventors of the Year
for successful treatment of rare disease
Publications
Joint research projects between Corewell Health and MSU have generated nearly 1,400 publications over the past 10 years.
Media
Corewell Health and MSU Fund Nearly $1.4 Million in New Research Grants
MSU, Corewell Health Mark 17-Year Partnership by Adding $1M Investment in Exploratory Research
Research collaboration projects have included
- Pain and anxiety in pediatric functional abdominal pain
- Improving quality of life for individuals with childhood-onset lupus
- COVID-19-induced neurocognitive disorders
- Cognitive impairment comparison in West Michigan
- BDNF and Parkinson’s disease
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI) biomarkers
- Strong Beginnings prenatal outreach program
- Maternal morbidity and mortality
- MIRACLE project and center
- Uterine fibroid research
- Uterine endometriosis research
- Ovarian and endometrial cancer
- Bachman-Bupp syndrome
- MODS transcriptomic analysis
- Neurodevelopment and autism
- Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
- Pediatric cancer therapy