Loyola University Chicago is a Co-Recipient of $51 Million Grant from the National Institutes of Health to Improve Health Equity

CHICAGO, IL — November 18, 2022 – Loyola University Chicago is one of six universities and health systems teaming up to improve health equity in partnership with the Chicago Department of Public Health, community members, nonprofits, and others thanks to a $51 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“We at Loyola University Chicago believe very strongly in social justice and that access to good health is a fundamental human right,” said Elaine Morrato, DrPH, MPH, CPH, founding dean of the Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health at Loyola University Chicago and the partnership lead at Loyola. “We’re focused in both our education and research mission on accelerating the translation of health innovation to population faster in order to address health equities.”

The NIH awarded the grant to the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM), a partnership between The University of Chicago and Rush in collaboration with Advocate Aurora Health, the Illinois Institute of Technology, Loyola University Chicago, and NorthShore University HealthSystem. ITM seeks to support health research breakthroughs and getting those discoveries into the real world to improve population health as soon as possible. More than 9.4 million people across Chicagoland live in the ITM coverage area, spanning Cook, DuPage, Lake, Kendall, Will, Peoria, Woodford, McLean, Livingston, Kankakee, Winnebago, DeKalb, and McHenry Counties in Illinois, as well as Lake County, Indiana.

This initiative was motivated in part by The Chicago Department of Public Health’s Health Chicago 2025 community health improvement plan to address health inequity.

This funding will also launch a Community-Based Research Network of nonprofits and other organizations who want to address the health issues plaguing their members by working with physicians and researchers.

“I’m very excited to have Loyola be a contributor and participant in the ITM,” said Meharvan Singh, PhD, vice provost for research at Loyola University Chicago. “We must give the scientific community an opportunity to swing for the fences and I think the ITM helps foster that.”

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About Loyola University Chicago  

Founded in 1870, Loyola University Chicago is one of the nation’s largest Jesuit, Catholic universities, with nearly 17,500 students. The University has four campuses: three in the greater Chicago area and one in Rome, Italy, as well as a course location in Vernon Hills, Illinois (Cuneo Mansion and Gardens), and a Retreat and Ecology Campus in Woodstock, Illinois. The University features 15 schools, colleges, and institutes. Ranked a top national university by U.S. News & World Report, Loyola is also among a select group of universities recognized for community service and engagement by prestigious national organizations including AmeriCorps and the Carnegie Foundation. To learn more about Loyola, visit LUC.edu or follow us on Twitter via @LoyolaChicago. 

About the Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health

Loyola University Chicago launched the Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health in Fall 2019 to educate the health entrepreneurs of the future and impact health care accessibility and equity nationally. The Parkinson School offers 19 degree programs and three certificate and internship programs in four areas of study: Public Health Sciences, Healthcare Administration, Health Informatics and Data Science, and Applied Health Sciences. The school builds on the foundations of Loyola’s nationally recognized Stritch School of Medicine and its Biomedical Programs, Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing, and Loyola’s partnership with Trinity Health (known in the Chicago area as Loyola Medicine). To learn more about the Parkinson School, visit LUC.edu/Parkinson.

About the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)

The Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) helps you live your best life by making research breakthroughs happen and getting those discoveries into the real world to improve your health as soon as possible.

The ITM is a partnership between the University of Chicago and Rush in collaboration with Advocate Health Care, the Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), Loyola University Chicago, and NorthShore University HealthSystem that’s fueled by about $51 million in grants from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health through its Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program.

We’re part of a network of more than 50 CTSA Program-supported hubs across the country working to slash the time it takes to develop and share new treatments and health approaches. We work with you and for you to make participating in health research easy, so that together we improve health care for all.

Join the movement and learn more about how we help researchers, physicians, community members, industry, government organizations, and others. Visit us at chicagoitm.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn @ChicagoITM.

This project is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through Grant Numbers UL1TR002389, KL2TR002387, and TL1TR00238 that fund the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.