When the world looks to Michigan for solutions to humanity's greatest health challenges, what do they find? In 2025, they found 489 researchers across 29 U-M units co-creating bold innovations where resources are limited and health inequities are greatest. They found AI can dramatically reduces cancer diagnosis time. They found partnerships built on trust, not paternalism. They found proof that collaborative innovation works.
What 'Look to Michigan' Means for Global Health Equity
The University of Michigan's 'Look to Michigan' campaign challenges us to demonstrate how our research, partnerships, and innovation create measurable impact on humanity's greatest challenges. For global health equity, the answer lies in three strategic priorities that define what it means to look to Michigan for solutions.
Where trust-based partnerships accelerate human health and wellbeing and advanced technology
Cultivating the Leaders Who Will Close the Health Equity Gap
In an era of funding uncertainty and shifting global health priorities, protecting early and mid-career faculty isn't just good practice—it's a strategic imperative. These researchers are developing the bold ideas that will define the next generation of global health solutions, but they need protected time, mentorship infrastructure, and flexible seed funding to take calculated risks.
When research partners look to Michigan, they find faculty who have the institutional support to pursue high-impact, collaborative work. In 2025, this approach generated $28.9 million in new external funding and three major NIH awards—proof that investing in faculty innovation creates the conditions for breakthrough research.
Equitable Technology That Saves Lives
AI-enabled solutions for cancer and non-communicable diseases represent Michigan's distinctive advantage in global health innovation. When diagnostic infrastructure is limited, when pathology results take seven weeks instead of seven days, when cancer care gaps threaten lives—this is where Michigan's computational expertise meets urgent human need.
Our partnerships in Kenya demonstrate what's possible: AI-powered tools with the potential to reduce pathology diagnosis time from weeks to seconds, improving treatment outcomes for patients who can't wait. This isn't theoretical research—it's deployed technology changing clinical practice in resource-limited settings.
Partnership as Global Engagement
The most distinctive aspect of looking to Michigan for global health solutions is our model of trust-based collaboration. We don't extract data or parachute in with predetermined solutions. We match Michigan faculty with international partners who bring local expertise, co-develop research questions that matter to communities, and build sustainable capacity that outlasts any individual project.
This approach attracts partners who want collaborators, not funders. It generates research that changes policy because it's grounded in local realities. And it creates the kind of reciprocal learning that strengthens both Michigan's scholarship and our partners' health systems.
489
center members, representing 29 unique units across all three campuses and global partners.
$680k
in CGHE funding awarded in 2025—more than double last year's total—with a 40% acceptance rate proving our partnership model produces fundable research
$28.9m
in external funding enabled in 2025— proof that when research partners look to Michigan, they find solutions worth investing in
Collaborative Innovation That Spans Continents
Global health equity isn't achieved by individuals working in isolation—it's built through networks of researchers, clinicians, students, and partners who see collaboration as the path forward. In 2025, our community grew to 489 members, forming 49 interdisciplinary research teams across 29 U-M units, that brought together at least three disciplines to tackle complex health challenges.
Our country platforms bring together U-M researchers working in the same regions, fostering sustained collaboration that leads to deeper partnerships and more impactful research. Faculty learn from each other's successes and challenges, connect with potential collaborators, and ensure their work aligns with local priorities.
How the Center for Global Health Equity connects world-class researchers to address cancer care gaps in Kenya.
The collaboration has broader implications for optimizing cost-effective, patient-centered research globally.
A initiative brings together scholars from the University of Michigan and Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
A joint research initiative of Aga Khan University and U-M receives an additional $340,000 to strengthen institutional research administration capacity across Africa
New study from center member Lynae Darbes, PhD highlights the effectiveness of home-based counseling in improving HIV testing in Kenya.
Public Policy master’s student Hasan Sajili in Indonesia, where he worked on an ongoing project piloting a mobile vaccination program as part of this year’s Summer Research Internship Program.
"When people look to Michigan, they should see more than world-class research—they should see a model for how global partnerships accelerate innovation."
—Akbar K. Waljee, MD, MS
Leslie D. Yamada and Tachi Yamada M.D. Director, University of Michigan Center for Global Health Equity
Turning Collaboration into Funded Research
Despite a rapidly shifting funding landscape, center faculty members secured multiple major research awards in 2025 through partnerships spanning Kenya, Brazil, India, and other global contexts—a testament to both the strength of collaborative research design and the behind-the-scenes infrastructure that helped forge these connections. Through seed funding to test ideas with international partners, ongoing mentorship from senior researchers, and strategic matchmaking with institutions like Aga Khan University, the center provided the scaffolding that turns local insights into fundable global research.
A groundbreaking effort to better understand changing demographics in Kenya—and the resulting pressures on the country’s health system—has received a multi-million-dollar grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Aga Khan University (AKU) in Kenya was recently awarded a $750,000 research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the use of AI technology to overcome barriers in the diagnosis of colorectal cancer in Africa.
Led by U-M faculty Sarah Compton, the international team will test a mobile tool designed to help women make informed family planning decisions after childbirth.
A joint research initiative of Aga Khan University and U-M receives an additional $340,000 to strengthen institutional research administration capacity across Africa
CGHE Global Health Field Scholar Nate Nessle received support from two different foundations for his work exploring wearable devices to improve fever detection among young cancer patients.
Treleaven's project will investigate how persistent, intergenerational social and economic disadvantages shape disparities in health, infections, and healthcare utilization in early childhood in Nepal. The project builds on data from the longitudinal Chitwan Valley Family Study.
"It's not only about generating evidence. It's also about supporting the translation of this evidence into policy decision making and designing the right interventions."
—Lia Tadesse, MD, MSc
Former Minister of Health, Ethiopia
Executive advisory board member,
University of Michigan Center for Global Health Equity
Developing Tomorrow's Global Health Leaders
The world's most pressing health challenges demand researchers who can navigate complex funding landscapes, build sustainable partnerships, and translate discoveries into impact. To cultivate these leaders at U-M, the center has built comprehensive infrastructure that supports faculty at every career stage—from protected research time and flexible seed funding to formalized mentorship and hands-on grant development support. In 2025, the center formalized this commitment by appointing three associate directors, amplifying early and mid-career faculty voices in shaping the center's direction. These roles provide protected time for leadership development beyond traditional academic metrics, enabling faculty to drive strategic initiatives, mentor peers, and build skills in partnership development and program design.
25
networking events held including our annual community gathering, monthly membership community meetings, and country-specific roundtables.
$5.14m
in funding distributed to U-M researchers and their global partners to advance interdisciplinary health innovations since our founding in 2020.
17
faculty funded as CGHE principal investigators for the first time, expanding our reach to researchers who hadn't previously accessed center support
In his new role as associate director, Ehrlich will play a crucial part in co-developing and implementing the strategic vision of the center's Data Collaborative.
The Center for Global Health Equity at the University of Michigan is pleased to announce the appointment of Lindsay Kobayashi, PhD, MSc, as Associate Director for Research Strategy.
The Center for Global Health Equity at the University of Michigan is pleased to announce that Cheryl A. Moyer, PhD, MPH, has been appointed its new associate director for education and mentorship.
Throughout her six-month fellowship, Bailes will work under the mentorship of Michele Heisler, MD, as she explores how displaced communities across the Americas access healthcare.
Each scholar brings deep expertise, a commitment to equity, and a drive to translate rigorous research into meaningful change for vulnerable communities around the world.
Center member and associate professor of surgery Gifty Kwake launched the program in 2023 alongside partners at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Ghana
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No matter where you are in your career, there's a place for you at CGHE — find your opportunity to get involved.