Grants power two decades of statewide impact

Wisconsin Partnership Program advances health and shapes the School of Medicine and Public Health

September 5, 2024

Mary Ellen Gabriel

The University of Wisconsin’s medical school would not be the UW School of Medicine and Public Health without the Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP), a grantmaking program celebrating its 20^th anniversary this year. Historically, WPP was created to manage and disburse funds awarded to the medical school through the non-profit-to-for-profit conversion of Blue Cross & Blue Shield United of Wisconsin, which catalyzed the school’s transformation into the nation’s first combined school of medicine and public health. Funding from WPP helped launch the Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine (WARM), Master of Public Health (MPH) program and many other innovative education initiatives, ensuring that public health would always inform teaching and learning in the school. WPP also funds many community-led projects to advance health and health equity.

Combining the power of academic research with community knowledge, WPP strives to address the most pressing and complex health challenges in Wisconsin. Over the last 20 years, WPP has awarded 636 grants totaling $301 million to propel research, enhance the health workforce, strengthen communities and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Drawn from hundreds of outstanding initiatives, these WPP-supported projects highlight impactful work related to each of the WPP pillars: Research, Community and Education.

Dr. Bruce Klein and Nydiaris Hernandez look at a sample in a bioreactor tube — Bruce Klein (right) with former postdoctoral fellow Nydiaris Hernandez

Reducing infectious disease threats

The rise of antibiotic-resistant infections creates urgent demand for new antibiotic drugs. A 2007 WPP grant helped launch the Wisconsin Infectious Disease Drug Discovery project, led by Dr. Bruce Klein, a professor of pediatrics. Data from that project and others then helped researchers land a five-year, $16 million Center for Excellence in Translational Research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), renewed in 2019. Led by Dr. David Andes, professor of medicine, the NIH-funded center has identified hundreds of antibiotic drug candidates, some now in active development. Read about funding for new antibiotics.

Preventing blindness in rural Wisconsin

Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in working-age Wisconsin adults, yet less than half of at-risk people are screened annually. Dr. Yao Liu is the director of the UW Teleophthalmology Program, which aims to prevent blindness by expanding access to innovative eye care. In 2015, she received a WPP grant to partner with Mile Bluff Medical Center in Mauston, Wisconsin to improve access to vision screenings through telemedicine. This vision-saving program is being evaluated by a clinical trial at eight rural health systems across the country. Read about Dr. Liu’s work on vision screening access.

Dr. Yao Liu points to a retinal scan on a computer monitor — Yao Liu views a retinal scan.

Dudley Lamming and Jacob Brunkard look at soy plants in a greenhouse — Dudley Lamming (left) and Jacob Brunkard, associate professor of genetics, examine soy plants.

Engineering a healthier calorie

In Wisconsin, more than 70 percent of people are overweight and 30 percent are diabetic or prediabetic. A WPP New Investigator grant helped fund a study led by Dudley Lamming, an associate professor of medicine, that showed a connection between reduced branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) in the diet and improved insulin metabolism and weight. Now, working with metabolism and plant genetics experts on campus, Lamming and his team are exploring whether specially engineered soy and corn plants with reduced levels of the problematic BCAAs will help improve metabolism in mice. Read about Lamming’s work to engineer a healthier calorie.

Addressing farmers’ health and well-being

The unique challenges and setbacks of farming put farmers at risk for mental health crises and suicide. The Wisconsin Partnership Program provided the Southwest Wisconsin Community Action Program with initial funding to provide training in suicide prevention and stress management. The group received another WPP grant to develop Farm Well Wisconsin, which focuses on training community members and health providers to address farm stress and mental health and connect struggling people with resources. Read about community support for farmers.

Dan Wegmueller and Shawn Monson lean against a wooden fence — Farm Well Wisconsin program coordinator Shawn Monson (right) and Farm Well partner Dan Wegmueller in Monroe, Wisconsin

A resident opens the door to speak to a staff member at Milwaukee’s United Community Center — An employee visits a resident at Milwaukee’s United Community Center.

Improving Latinos’ access to care

Early detection and diagnosis are vital to improving the quality of life for Wisconsin Latinos who are affected by Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Support from the Wisconsin Partnership Program helped Milwaukee’s United Community Center develop a comprehensive model of care to improve Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis and support for Latinos in the southeast region of the state. In collaboration with county and community partners, the initiative builds on existing assessment services, and leverages caregiver support and community education, to reduce geographical, cultural and financial barriers. Read about the Latino Dementia Health Regional Consortium.

Building Black men’s wellness

Promoting wellness, preventing chronic health conditions and reducing health disparities are top priorities in improving the health of Black men in Wisconsin. The Rebalanced-Life Wellness Association (RLWA), a community health organization inside Madison’s largest Black barbershop, used a WPP grant to expand its unique model of care, offering vaccinations, preventative screenings and more. RLWA received a subsequent WPP grant to address Black men’s mental health and establish the Perry Family Free Clinic, offering care exclusively to uninsured and under-insured Black men. Read about the Black Men’s Wellness Sustainable Initiative.

Aaron Perry and Jeff Patterson stand in front of a barbershop door — Aaron Perry (left), founder of RLWA and Jeff Patterson, owner of the hair salon that is home to Perry’s health center

Stephanie Dodge looks across a greenhouse filled with tomato plants — Stephanie Dodge (Oneida) at the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition’s Indigenous Food Producer Academy

Promoting vibrant food systems

The Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin is using a WPP grant to promote food traditions, focusing on agricultural best practices, raising livestock and building a community kitchen. By creating a vibrant food system that incorporates cultural teachings and peer support, the tribe intends to reduce the community’s risk for chronic diseases. Activities include collaborating with the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition’s Tribal Elder Food Box Program, rezoning land for agricultural purposes, developing a new food code and building the community of indigenous food producers. Read about the Menominee Tribe’s renewed food system.

Strengthening the public health workforce

The Wisconsin Partnership Program funded the launch of the Wisconsin Population Health Service Fellowship Program in 2004, placing trainees and recent graduates in organizations to help tackle Wisconsin’s public health challenges, while building their skills as future leaders. Fellows have tracked infectious diseases in Milwaukee’s wastewater, worked on harm-reduction strategies for people at risk of drug overdose, tested lead in tribal schools and much more. Of the program’s 104 fellows, 80 percent are now members of Wisconsin’s public health workforce. Read about the statewide impact of the Fellowship Program.

A group of six trainees from the Wisconsin Population Health Service Fellowship Program stand smiling together outside — A recent cohort of fellows from the Wisconsin Population Health Service Fellowship Program

Rural medicine MD students and an instructor carefully hold a manikin of a newborn — Rural medicine students practice delivering babies in a simulation lab in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Training future rural doctors

The medical school created the Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine (WARM) with funding from the Wisconsin Partnership Program, to address rural physician shortages facing Wisconsin communities. The program has graduated 274 physicians as of 2023, with 91 percent returning to practice in Wisconsin. The medical school has also created a new, three-year “short track” pathway (known as WARMeRR) focused on selecting WARM medical students for Wisconsin rural residency programs, thanks to additional funding from the Wisconsin Partnership Program. Read about WARM.

Transforming medical education

Strategic funding from WPP is helping educators in the medical school improve how they prepare future doctors for practice. The school’s ForWard Curriculum integrates basic, public health and clinical sciences and equips graduates to consider community setting and population health along with each patient’s needs. WPP also funded Wisconsin’s only accredited Preventive Medicine Residency Program, and awarded $1.2 million to the Native American Center for Health Professions (NACHP), to provide a supportive environment for American Indian/Alaska Native health professions students. Read about WPP-supported education initiatives.

MD student Jacob Jones places a blood pressure cuff on a child — Medical student Jacob Jones checks a child's blood pressure at a NACHP event.

Looking ahead

For twenty years – and through the work of many grant partners – the Wisconsin Partnership Program has propelled educational transformation and workforce development, research innovation and community health to improve health and advance health equity in our state. WPP’s five-year plan sets the course to continue this vital work.

“A program like this within the school truly is a tremendous asset,” said Dr. Amy Kind, director of the Wisconsin Partnership Program. “It allows us to engage in service activities, fundamental research and innovations around education and workforce development in ways that few other institutions can do —in true alignment with the Wisconsin Idea. The service component of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health is real, it’s actualized, and it moves forward in no small part because of the Wisconsin Partnership Program.”