Grant Program: Strategic Research

The project, Career Pathway Partnerships: Training the Future Leaders of the Wisconsin Biomedical Workforce, led by Laura Knoll, PhD, will build the capacity and leadership of Wisconsin’s biomedical and health care workforce by preparing graduate students to lead the state’s expanding biotechnology and life sciences sectors. Through the Interdisciplinary Biology and Health Sciences Consortium (IBHSC) Career Path Partnerships (CPP) Program, doctoral students will gain early exposure to biomedical industry careers, structured professional development and hands-on internships with Wisconsin-based companies. By integrating career exploration and industry engagement into PhD training, the program will equip students with the skills, experience and networks needed to transition confidently into the workforce. The project will also build on lasting partnerships between UW–Madison and Wisconsin biotech employers, creating sustainable pathways that retain top scientific talent in the state, support economic growth and prepare the next generation of biomedical innovators and health care leaders.

The Data Science to Promote Precision Medicine project will build a strong institutional data science core, with a focus on biomedical big data. This initiative will catalyze data-driven precision medicine research and translation to care at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH), to improve the health and well-being of Wisconsin residents, while strengthening the university’s role as a leader in precision medicine.

The goal of this project is to promote clinical and translational research to improve health in Wisconsin by expanding biomedical research. This project will expand infrastructure to engage a broad range of communities and populations in biospecimen research by combining community partnerships with expertise in community outreach, engagement, biospecimen science, biomarker development and bioinformatics.

Wisconsin performs below the U.S. average on most metrics of disparities in quality of care. Because of this, quality of care is often lower for minority, low income and uninsured populations. These disparities contribute to poor health outcomes for disadvantaged patients and need to be publicly reported and addressed via sustained, collaborative action.Conclusion: The project has already produced one major study, the WCHQ Health Disparities Report, which was released in the fall of 2019. The study identifies where gaps in health outcomes and care exist in Wisconsin and incorporates data categorized by race and ethnicity, insurance coverage and geography. Further work is ongoing.

The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) and the UW School of Medicine and Public Health are partnering on an initiative to improve health equity in Wisconsin. MCW’s Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment (AHW) and the UW’s Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP), statewide health funders based at Wisconsin’s two medical schools, have announced a joint three-year, $3 million grant to launch an expansive new statewide partnership that will study, measure and recommend solutions for health inequities across the state of Wisconsin.