Portage Health Foundation, Michigan Tech Partner to Promote Sustainable Community Health

The health and wellbeing of all residents of the community is a goal that the Portage Health Foundation and Michigan Technological University share. So they’ve joined forces to help create a healthier community.

A community health partnership between the foundation and Michigan Tech—announced at the University’s Board of Trustees’ meeting this week—will leverage the missions, strengths and financial resources of both organizations to develop sustainable health, wellness, education and economic growth for the area. The partnership will serve the residents of four counties: Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga and Ontonagon.

The community health partnership will focus on four goals:

1. Improving access to health education for local students (pre-college, undergraduate, and graduate)
2. Enhanced health research and innovation
3. Increased coordination and implementation of community health and wellness programs/assessments/reports
4. Recruitment and retention of high-caliber health care talent

Portage Health Foundation’s goal is “to be a catalyst in promoting and improving the overall health of our community through collaborating with other community partners to make the healthy choice and easy choice,” said Kevin Store, executive director of the foundation. The partnership will collaborate with key community stakeholders such as UP Health System, the MTEC SmartZone, Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) and the Great Lakes Family Health Center to provide health, wellness and educational resources.

The partners will each invest $140,000 annually over the next five years to increase scholarships and health education opportunities for local students.

At Michigan Tech, the partnership will focus on research and education. Plans include:

• Three new endowed professorships at Michigan Tech to develop health-related community collaborations, increase health-related research, advance health technology, and foster innovative/entrepreneurial activity.

1. The Portage Health Foundation Endowed Professor of Preventative and Community Health
2. The Portage Health Foundation Endowed Professor of Medical Informatics
3. The Portage Health Foundation Endowed Professor of Technological Innovation

• Research Excellence Funds awarded annually to support high-potential, high-impact research projects in health. Funding will provide seed money for research projects, support for commercialization of health-related technologies, and funding for infrastructure and equipment.

• Portage Health Foundation scholarships/fellowships/internships/research experiences providing local undergraduate and graduate students the financial support and unique experiences they need to succeed in their health-related fields of study.

“Over the past 8 to 10 years, Michigan Tech has strategically invested in health education and research,” said Jason Carter, chair of the Department of Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology and associate dean of the College of Sciences and Arts. “It’s been somewhat of a grass roots effort led by our talented students and faculty.  This partnership with Portage Health Foundation will enable the university to take our next step in this human health initiative, and at the heart of the partnership will be scholarships and distinctive education for students in our four-county area."

Carter heads the partnership at the University. "One of the best-kept secrets at Michigan Tech is our distinctive education and research oriented towards health science and engineering,” he said.  “We have made tremendous strides over the past decade, and this partnership with Portage Health Foundation will enable continued growth and scholarships."

He called the partnership “the most exciting thing I've been part of as a Michigan Tech faculty member. It will transform the way we engage in health education, research, and community wellness. And at the heart of it all will be the scholarships and distinctive education for talented students in our four-county area."

Michigan Tech already has more than 50 faculty working in health-related fields. The University’s top capital outlay project request submitted to the State of Michigan for 2016 was a $52 milion health sciences and medical engineering building. And earlier this year, a Health Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Task Force was established to create a roadmap to reach Tech’s long-term human health goals.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.