Henry Ford Health System and Michigan State University Partner to Improve Access, Outcomes to Health Care through Research, Education and Addressing Health Inequities and Disparities

The partnership is built around providing greater access to quality, affordable, compassionate health care through shared education, research and clinical integration for urban and rural populations.

Show Notes

Henry Ford Health System and Michigan State University, two of the state’s leading education, research and health care institutions, are partnering to make Michigan a national leader in providing access to exceptional health care for all residents, scientific discovery and education for providers, patients and families.

In a landmark partnership that will last for at least 30 years, both institutions are committed to aligning efforts across key departments and programs to achieve critical health care and educational goals, while addressing social issues that impact health outcomes for patients in Michigan and beyond.

Here to talk more about the partnership are Dr. Norman J. Beauchamp Jr., MSU executive vice president for health sciences and Adnan Munkarah, M.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer for Henry Ford Health System. Dr. Beauchamp will chair the board selected from leaders of both institutions.

Key features of the agreement include fostering innovative, groundbreaking research; providing best-in-class cancer care; interprofessional training; increasing diversity among the next generation of health care professionals; and addressing the needs of traditionally underserved communities. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are core components of the partnership and are embedded throughout the agreement in a commitment to addressing access to health care and health disparities in both urban and rural communities.  For more information about the partnership, visit www.henryford.com/msuhealthsciences.

MSU will expand its presence in Detroit through the development of a regional campus, located within the existing Henry Ford Detroit Campus footprint. The institutions will create a new Health Sciences Center (HSC) that tightly aligns basic and translational research, fueling innovation and discovery through an academically and clinically integrated network of health care providers, scientists, academicians and public health practitioners.

A new urban-based public health program is planned to focus on education and research, as well as provide a platform to collaborate with other institutions. With the planned expansion of their combined research enterprise, Henry Ford and MSU are developing a joint research institute, the Health Sciences Center, dedicated to research and academic activities.

Alignment between a top academic institution and a leading integrated health system will accelerate the recruitment and retention of top clinical and academic talent, which is essential for advancing research, providing superior patient care and educating the next generation of premier health care professionals. 

With the MSU partnership, the Henry Ford Cancer Institute will expand research and clinical applications to create an international destination for access to the most advanced cancer therapies and research. With its focus on innovative cancer treatments, prevention and screening protocols, the institute will offer vast improvements in population health, fuel discovery in basic sciences, support translational research aimed at curing cancer and close the gap in health care outcomes for cancer patients based on race, ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic status.

Diversity, equity and inclusion are foundational to Henry Ford and MSU’s partnership and are articulated in key goals and deliverables that seek to eliminate health disparities, address the social determinants of health, and remove barriers to care and opportunity for medical education. This includes a commitment to educate diverse health care providers and ensure equitable access to quality health care for historically disenfranchised and marginalized populations.

This partnership is not an acquisition or merger. The Henry Ford and MSU names will not change, and both organizations will maintain their respective autonomies. The goal is to combine the strength of both institutions’ legacies and storied brands toward their shared goals. By mid-2021, there will be co-branding within some areas, including joint research efforts, and the Center will establish an umbrella entity for its activities and a joint identity. Several of the partnership’s advancements will result from the integration of both institutions around key research and program elements, while others, such as capital projects, are dependent upon securing private and philanthropic funding.

At the core of the partnership is a unique primary academic affiliation. As the partnership evolves and expands, Michigan will be established as a destination for exceptional clinical care, advanced research and innovative medical education. The partnership will chart definitive progress in eliminating health disparities and addressing the needs of marginalized communities, improving health care for everyone. Most important of all, this partnership will provide improved care options and increased hope to patients and families facing disparate medical challenges, including cancer.

MSU Today airs every Sunday morning at 9:00 on 105.1 FM, AM 870, and however you stream at home. Follow and subscribe at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Creators & Guests

Host

Russ White

I host and produce MSU Today for News/Talk 760 @wjrradio and @MichiganStateU's @NPR affiliate @WKAR News/Talk 102.3 FM and AM 870.

What is MSU Today with Russ White?

MSU Today is a lively look at Michigan State University-related people, places, events and attitudes put into focus by Russ White. The show airs Saturdays at 5 P.M. and Sundays at 5 A.M. on 102.3 FM and AM 870 WKAR, and 8 P.M. on AM 760 WJR.

Russ White 0:00
Henry Ford health system and Michigan State University two of the state's leading education, research and health care institutions are partnering to make Michigan a national leader in providing access to exceptional health care for all residents, scientific discovery and education for providers, patients and families in a landmark partnership that will last for at least 30 years. Both institutions are committed to aligning efforts across key departments and programs to achieve critical health care and educational goals while addressing social issues that impact health outcomes for patients in Michigan and beyond. Here to talk more about the partnership are Dr. Norman J. Beauchamp Jr, Ms. Us Executive Vice President for Health Sciences, and ad nine mooned Kira, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief clinical officer for Henry Ford health system, Dr. Beauchamp will chair the board selected from leaders of both institutions. It's great to welcome you both to MSU today, thank you, Russ, really, really glad to be here. Thank you. Same here last very excited. So what does the Henry Ford health system and Michigan State University partnership mean to health care cost consumers

Unknown Speaker 1:16
this this partnership really is based on and built on the foundation that we both have a similar vision as well as commitment, that vision and commitment are essentially to one improve the health of our community, and to transform healthcare in the United States, which we believe that there are there are opportunities to improve and transform. And in order for us to do that, we believe that putting our resources together, our commitment to innovation and research to education of the future healthcare workers, and to think about new ways and discovered discover new ways of treating patients as well as facilitating the coordination of care of these patients are going to be essential, important, essential part of this members partnership.

Unknown Speaker 2:05
Now we've talked before us about the way to truly be, in fact impactful in healthcare is, is to connect research, education and clinical care in this innovation cycle. And by bringing together the breadth and the depth of really research and education, at MSU, as well as clinical delivery with the enormous scope and scale of Henry Ford and their clinical delivery, but also an education and research, we come together to really be able to address some of the biggest problems in health care health disparities. And and I think particularly relevant is that right now, it takes about 15 years to go from deciding what's the best way to take her take care of patients, based on Discovery, to its implementation. And by connecting all three with this scope, we're going to be able to do that fast, really fast, really effectively in ways that bring the best in health care to the people of Michigan, every single day, oh, standing. So

Russ White 3:03
how did the partnership come about?

Unknown Speaker 3:05
We identified our system, we've always been looking at advancing back our academic mission and building on our academic strategy. And we know that research and education are fundamental to our clinical care. So we identified the path and norm, and I got introduced through a common friend and colleague who said, the two of you need to talk and we really had lunch. And we started talking about our vision, our future vision of healthcare. At that time, there was no discussion about a partnership or anything of the sort. And it was very, very clear that the two of us are very aligned, we have the same passion, we have the same vision of how we want to kind of improve and transform healthcare and that we really represent the culture and vision of our institutions which are live. So this is what sparked that, that that initial launch is what sparked this work. And honestly, we committed at that time to start having more and more talk. And here we are now a year and a half down the road and, you know, signing a except extremely exciting partner agreement

Unknown Speaker 4:10
for a partnership in life's journeys, you look for kindred spirits, right, who have a similar commitment. And I found that, you know, in AD nine, and with him being a leader in the Henry Ford health system, you know, that was really relevant. And then it was also, you know, part of my journey has been to seek out a health care system that saw the importance of academic medicine or bringing the three together. And Henry Ford has 100 year history of doing that. And so it just made sense as a as a perfect partner. And what was terrific was then when we bought it brought it to our respective bosses and the boards of both organizations. They got it, they understood it, and that was that was critical. It certainly helps having a Right, as a visionary, as well as president Stanley, the same and and a physician who understands?

Russ White 5:06
Well, I had not I know if you're as passionate about these issues as norm is this partnership is certainly in good hands. So tell us, you know, what programs will Henry Ford health system and MSU collaborate on in this partnership.

Unknown Speaker 5:19
So we've identified a number of programs, from both a research perspective as clinical perspective that we think collectively that are important, it does not mean that these are exclusive. But these are the things really that we wanted to kind of start to work on. And I'm talking now about the research and clinical program, and then I let norm also weigh in on the educational component as well as amplify what we are because we think that this partnership is just beyond one or two program, it is really a transformational partnership. It is that is, as we have said before, it is it is this foundation are making sure that we bring bring research education, close to clinical care and transforming clinical care. So the programs that we are really excited to at least start with is one cancer, both of us, we think we have a strong portfolio of clinical cancer programs, as well as researching cancer. And we believe that putting our efforts together, together are going to be instrumental in to advancing our treatment of cancer and honestly also shooting for the moonshot that cancer cure. And I really think that we can be part of that nationally and internationally. Other programs that we've talked and discussed our population health, how we can kind of deliver care to our populations in a way that is efficient and valuable. How can we transform the care experience for our patient? How can we make sure that we their care is coordinated? And how do we use the data that we have at the present time to help us with those decisions, as we know today, that data is extremely important, because we can analyze it, we can we can make deductions from it, and it can help us predict things in the future. So linking data sciences to population health is extremely important for both of us. And again, the strength that most must bring to the table or is important. Precision Medicine. And precision health is extremely important, both in specialty care as well as in population health, both of us have invested into that. So can you can imagine now when we bring our resources together to advance that, it is going to be really amazing what you are able to do with these and how we are going to serve our community. And other things. And I'm you know, and we can go on and on. But other things that we've talked about neurosciences is another element that we've discussed, women's health, cardiovascular disease, imaging, all of these are going to be, you know, in sequence, some of the things that we bring our resources together and try to address scale, I'm going to turn it over dranoff, because education, to me is absolutely also essential as part of this partnership. And he will he can weigh in with the you know, with his expertise, how we are looking at this,

Unknown Speaker 8:03
you know, in terms of education. Plus, one of the things that is true is that we have a long history of partnership between Henry Ford health system and Michigan State in training doctors, and nurses. But what this is going to allow us to do is Trump to dramatically expand the number of doctors and nurses that will be able to train and in a state that has challenges with access, training physicians and nurses that will go into underserved areas is really a priori. But we also see this as a way to create a campus on, you know, the renowned Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. And in so doing will be able to bring together the strengths of our university with the depth and breadth of the work that's done on that campus. And perhaps with a specific focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in ways that will help us together train a generation of doctors and nurses that go directly at health disparities. And also learn about discovery because they'll be immersed in this, this effort in discovery. And part of what we want to do is not just train doctors and nurses to amass existing knowledge, but how do you continually update so that when new information comes in, you're a provider who gets that to your patients faster. You know, the other thing that that I would add to this is, we see that this will create a magnet and that there there are teachers, there are clinicians who want to be in this mill you that is forward looking and training that next generation and also addressing diversity, equity inclusion, through training the next generation of workforce and so We also see this as a way to recruit and retain. And as you're hearing a theme, and ducking car touched on it, one of the things that will cut across the clinical work, and that's why the population health that we do will be a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. So for example, in clinical, we'll look at health equity and disparities with a special focus on urban and rural populations. we'll incorporate training and implicit bias will recruit underrepresented students into educational programs. And we'll develop a pipeline down through the K through 12 students. And then finally, we will engage underrepresented communities in clinical research and clinical trials, and identify health disparities and potential interventions through public health research as what guides our work. And it's really that that very wonderful combination of bringing together both of our experiences and doing that that will be really powerful.

Russ White 11:00
And you know, you've both started to if touched on this already. But can you say some more about what the partnership will mean for Henry Ford health system and MSU is community of patients, students, employees and norm, you mentioned the physical presence in Detroit. But how will this help Detroit residents so

Unknown Speaker 11:17
there are few things from the help to Detroit, to Detroit residents, I look at it first continuing to advance our care through research and innovation and discovery is going to be extremely important. So to me, this is an immediate, really, I would say impact a result that we'll see from that partnership, but also recruiting the best of the best to come to Detroit at the present time. You know, it is we believe that in order for us to get best scientists, best physicians, this partnership is going to get them excited and enthusiastic about joining, you know, two institutions that are very well known with respect to their clinical care, education and research. The other thing that is going to do is going to allow us to really inject and invest into the city of Detroit. So whether it is we are building a a research program, whether we are building a building for research, whether we are looking at building further clinical program, looking at a medical school campus, all of these are going to be direct investment into the city, as well as it's in our communities that we serve. And the last thing I want to touch on is what Dr. Beauchamp has talked about, we really cannot under emphasize the importance of focusing on health disparities and health outcomes, we extremely know that access to care, as well as making sure that we have the diverse staff, the diverse learners, the diverse, the diverse members of our teams, to take care of our diverse population is extremely important. And this commitment for diversity and equity that Dr. Beauchamp has talked about, to me is going to be essential, both of us are doing this. But putting our energy together is going to be extremely important.

Unknown Speaker 13:08
I love that you bring up one of the things that we'll do for the city of Detroit is economic development. Economic Development is so important. One of the things that we talk about our social determinants of health. And certainly poverty, not equal access to foods or jobs is, is one of the big things that is a negative predictor of health outcomes. And we see one of the roles certainly of Michigan State University, and now will be even more impactful in working with Henry Ford is his job creation and economic development. And, you know, we would be remiss not to reflect on, you know, the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. When we think about this. And, you know, one of the statements he made in 1966 was that of all forms of inequality, injustice in health in health is the most shocking and inhuman. And when he talked about health, we'll note that he wasn't that he was talking about health care, but it's what includes things that we also will be able to address broadly, you know, at Michigan State, with Henry Ford, because we think about the things that are involved in health, like home environment, right, like access to education, food security, job creation, and again, access to health and, and it's something again, that our partners at Henry Ford have been working on. So you can see by bringing together a land grant institution, right that's so focused on all the determinants of health, with again, a health system that delivers on the scale that Henry Ford does and is so invested in the community. It becomes very powerful for the people of certainly Southeast Michigan. But then ultimately the state and I'm thinking of MSU Extension in their presence in all 83 Michigan counties, is

Russ White 15:07
there a statewide impact from the partnership?

Unknown Speaker 15:09
Absolutely at us, I mean, this is what we are excited about the knowledge that we bring from an urban setting to the knowledge that Dr. Bush and the team MSU brings from a rural setting, there are a lot of things to be exchanged a lot of information to be exchanged a lot of experiences and lessons learned. And we really believe this is beyond Southeast Michigan. This is this is across Michigan. And hopefully it's going to be across the nation, we really believe that as we mentioned earlier, we are committed to transformation in healthcare and improve improving the health of our community. And we really believe that we do here can easily be taken into to other regions and to other geographies.

Unknown Speaker 15:48
Love, again, that you brought that up Ross is part of this is to build on the networks that are there statewide, you thoughtfully mentioned extension. And one of the key parts of extension is that they've developed a trust in the communities in which they serve. And as you're trying to improve people's health and give them the guidance and the support, and, and frankly, to learn from the communities what they need, because they're the best resource and figuring out how we can help and how we can help together community and MSU. And Henry Ford extensions trust and the relationships they've developed. so critical. Similarly, the trust that our our public health division has developed in Flint, right, which is community based and add nines, Henry Ford's public health has built really critical. Another thing that, you know, Ford saw and we bring to this is because we have community based medical schools, as well as a nursing college, which essentially does training in almost as many counties as extension, again, it becomes a way to, to learn and then echo those learnings across the state in really significant ways, both through education, the reach of extension, both of those things,

Russ White 17:15
in true land, Grant fish and share our knowledge to better humanity. But can you guys talk a bit about the financial impact of the partnership?

Unknown Speaker 17:23
Yeah, I can, I can touch on this. Part of why it was so important for us to come together, is in finding an institution that also values research, they similar to us invest in research. And so essentially, by identifying areas where we believe that we can make an impact that we know we can, and aligning our resources, whether that's dollar spent or expertise or infrastructure, we can have a very scalable impact. And so what we've committed to do is to maintain both of our institutions current investment, into health and health discovery, but then to incrementally invest into this with with additional dollars, in ways that will build on what's there. But we also recognize that by putting in the initial investment between the two of our organizations, which you know, over the course of their relationship, you know, which is 30 years, you know, will amount to, you know, know, probably beyond $200 million, we will be able to also recruit enormous resources that will be many multiples of that through intellectual property creation, through grants that will apply for together through philanthropic support, and industry partnerships. So, a good bit of this is just synergy. But then some incremental investments.

Unknown Speaker 19:02
So, with respect, a, you know, just to add to what Dr. Beauchamp has said, it is both of us, it was very clear as we are going through our due diligence and discussions that both of us are committed to invest into research. And I think the work that we have done over the past year, has allowed us allowed us to really look at inventory what we have on both sides, and what are the areas that there is significant synergy that if you are able to invest into raw are going to really make a difference. And this is where Dr. Beauchamp was mentioning, I'm really committed. And this is worth that amount of money that we live to over the next in fact that that what we are looking at is an incremental close to 200 plus million dollars over the next 10 years. And we see that over 30 years. It's got to be much more than that. And, and this work has not been just that that number has not been pulled out of our teams yet. Many many thought leaders have worked very, very hard really to plan, what does our transformation in research and education looks like over the next 10 years. And this will be the foundation for the next the following 20 years, and hopefully for another 30 years to be renewed after that. And to us the programs that we've talked about and alluded to initially, both our researchers, our educational leaders sat down together, and they said, This is what what is needed. This is what we see we have at the present time. And this is what we need in the future. In order for us to be one of the best in cancer, both from a translational research and conducting translational research to clinical. These are the number of scientists physicians that we need. As you know, we have a very strong clinical program at Stanford health system, and is significant, in fact, the clinical trial program in cancer research, and we have a couple, two or three very solid translational research programs, you imagine we add the portfolio and really great research that's being done at the present time in MSU. And we amplify this by investing another, you know, you know, 10s of millions of dollars in research in cancer in the next five years, think about the impact that you are going to have, this is not only to get a designation or certificate, but this is really to make a difference in cancer care. This is to kind of discover how we are going to cure cancer. And this is how our team arrived to these numbers and to that investment, how are we going to move the needle on cancer? How are we going to move the needle on population in neurosciences and imaging? And these are the things we've looked at? And and many of these boards also ask, as Dr. Beauchamp has mentioned, these are not only scientific and or clinical goals, but community goals, how are we going to improve the health of our our mothers and infants? You know, how are we going to kind of decrease maternal mortality in the city of Detroit and in Michigan? Because we don't attract one? How are we going to improve the health of our our children? So there is a lot of work that has gone into thinking how to invest, how much to invest and over what period of time.

Russ White 22:08
So how is the covid 19 pandemic impacting this partnership as it is impacting everything else?

Unknown Speaker 22:14
It's an important point, and maybe it causes us to comment. A little bit more on what you had just asked us about the investment because whenever one invests you want to think about and document or nicely reflected on return on investment. Why in these challenging Financial Times, would you be putting money in to a program and I think COVID-19 shed such a disheartening light on health disparities with communities of color, disproportionately affected both by COVID 19, in terms of getting the disease, as well as dying from the disease. And so our passion to this and why we're putting our shoulder behind it is experienced with COVID-19. And, and similarly, though, what you saw across the country is what were the trusted sources, and where did the ideas emanate for how to respond. And you know, at Michigan State, we really put our shoulder behind thinking about ways to develop PP, right to reuse PP to develop new diagnostic testing. And in Henry Ford, we saw as a real leader in keeping our community safe by stepping forward with so many providers in terms of access to care. So from a from a COVID-19, and I'll add on taco a bit more you know, about the partnership and how it's reflected in this, but it draws our attention back to, we wouldn't put money in unless we felt it was extraordinarily important to the lives of the people of Michigan, and to our organizational mission. And, you know, we can look at things like outcomes for cancer, infant mortality, that there are differences in adjacent counties of up to 10 years, and in length of life, all predicted by access to resources and and really some of the effects of racism. And so this idea that we're putting money in, it's in the context of really synergistically impacting our mission and being able to respond because this isn't the last time that we'll see challenges like COVID and certainly we are not out of that door.

Unknown Speaker 25:00
Well, I want to emphasize the point that Dr. Beauchamp has mentioned about what we've learned from COVID. What we've learned from COVID is, you know, it just shine more of a spotlight on the impact of health disparities and outcomes. And we've seen our minority population, our black patients devastated really by the COVID search that we had in the spring. And when we started analyzing it and understanding more, what we have seen is that the mortality the impact of the COVID on the community, as well as their mortality in general, is significantly higher than in other communities than the white population. However, when we looked at patients who are admitted to the hospital, and we've done analysis, and we've had the research that our scientists have published in peer reviewed journals, what we have found is that a black patient or a white patient will get admitted to one of our hospital and get treated, the outcomes were not different. So it is very clear that our access, this is why it emphasizes the importance of focus on population health in these settings. And this is why it really re emphasize for us the importance of going beyond the walls of the hospital to improve the health of our community. This is why the data that Dr. Beauchamp was talking about how we can get data to inform us and help us predict for the future when we hit a pandemic or a crisis like this, how are we going to reach out to our community because most of this happens before a patient gets planning versus the department or get into the hospital so that that investment is extremely, extremely important. It also emphasized for us the importance of research and science. So we were lucky and fortunate that because of the really legacy of research that we've had we've we've been able to provide to our patients and our community, access to state of the art care when it existed. We were one of the worst first hospital to be part of that disappeared studies. We've been part of the journey as well as j&j vaccines, we've been part of monoclonal antibody studies, we were on the convalescent plasma treatment. And if you think about it, if if it were not for our commitment, and and the commitment of our physicians and scientists to discovery, research and present, offering our community the best of the best, we would not have been able to serve the community that as we had before. So this is why COVID has been really add to all of us, we understand that that this has impacted the finances of healthcare systems of universities. And as we look at our investment, we were very thoughtful in that. And we've built in it in the contingencies of what happens if 2021 is not, you know, we've not we've not made the recovery that we expect. So so we understand that, you know, going forward, we need to be thoughtful on how we approach this investment into some of our research and science. But it does not, by any mean mean, negate or eliminate that urgent need for us to address the needs of our community. And if anything in my mind, it accelerates, it tells us that we need to do more so that hopefully, if we ever, if we ever get confronted with a similar problem, you know, in the future, we are able to act faster, and we are able to disseminate that knowledge as well as care to a bigger population.

Unknown Speaker 28:24
And the maybe one additional thought Russ is something that you know, well is to do to create a 30 year partnership, right trust, and shared values are at the core of it. And what watching our colleagues at Henry Ford health system navigate this covid 19 crisis, and how there were times when we reached out with questions or seeking support, they were there. And so it really was a moment of difficulty we traversed together that was trust building, as well as the chance to really deeply understand each other's core values and see that they're aligned.

Russ White 29:08
It's interesting. You mentioned that norm because I've been thinking throughout this conversation how much our values align in this situation. This partnership seems like a natural. Tell me what the Health Sciences Center is.

Unknown Speaker 29:21
Yes, so the Health Sciences is a place that will bring together the expertise and the leadership from Henry Ford, with Michigan State University, health sciences, and MSU. The Health Sciences will bring forward leaders from our clinical practice plan is well as leadership from the three health colleges College of Osteopathic Medicine, College of Nursing and the College of human medicine. And we'll represent expertise across The domains that were working on and talked about diversity, equity, inclusion, cancer, education, research, and teaching. And that will be something that we will make as a focal point.

Unknown Speaker 30:15
So for us, we thought, in order for us to accelerate the work and collaboration partnership, we need to build a tent, so that our collaborator set under that tent, with really shared branding and shared leadership. We all know that people want to kind of connect to something, there is an identity that is needed. And we believe that bringing these programs we've talked about under the banner of the Health Science Center, that it will have a president, its inaugural president is Dr. Steve calcannabis, who is a very well known leader in health care nationally. And internationally. He is in neuro scientist, he is our chief academic officer. But also we realized the importance that both of us both as both institution, this is a priority. This this joint venture, this company, this has signed center is extremely important. So a board that is representative of both institution with equal representation, that Dr. Beauchamp will be shared chair sharing in the first cycle, and then we'll rotate chairing it, you know, every couple of years with equal representation of our leaders is extremely important to make sure that we are advancing advancing things as fast as we can. Because we know that everybody is busy. And we all when we are changed is not easy. And change is difficult. But we found that if you keep everybody under the same tent, and you tell them well pull your things together, it works. Sometimes, sometimes it does not work versus if we invite everybody under the same house under the same roof. They they own their truth. Now they are into the design of that that internal design of that house, how does it look like? How are they going to invite others to that house, what they are going to add to it, how they are going to make that high house shine into the neighborhood. This is where we feel that it is extremely important

Unknown Speaker 32:04
within both of those organizations. It's public health, Ross, and so that that is how that will be brought to bear. A question that some have asked at Michigan State and Dr. linkara has been really supportive of is the concept of well, then is this just a health sciences thing? Well, in order for us to, to move the dial on improving healthcare, one of the reasons that I believe we were a sought after partner for Henry Ford, were the strengths outside of health sciences as well. So think about 1/3 of the spend in healthcare is waste. Well, we've got a world class supply chain, department in the the brode, college, Communication Arts, well, one of the focal areas of scholarship in our College of comm art is changing healthcare. You can look at the challenges that we face in terms of just helping people understand the importance of vaccines, and how we one rebuild trust in the community, particularly communities that have been underserved and have been taken advantage of in science and and how to rebuild that trust, right, our commitment to, you know, to Arts and Letters, for example, which has a deep commitment to how do you communicate to underrepresented communities and really build trust. And so we see that as critical and we've already mentioned extension. So although we will create this, this entity that will be accountable, and, and and driven, and will have its focus in health and healthcare, certainly the chance to leverage the strengths across Michigan State University as well as to bring opportunities to make a difference to our students across the university, our faculty across the university. We see that as a big part of this, if we're going to commit resources, we see this as something that needs to elevate the entire university. And And importantly, that is the way that will be most successful is by bringing all of those those skills, abilities and interest to bear.

Russ White 34:35
You both talked earlier in the conversation about fighting cancer being one of the key goals of the partnership, what is meant by a National Cancer Institute designation and why is that important?

Unknown Speaker 34:46
I look at the NCI cancer designation is a path for us to commit to advance our research as well as innovation in clinical care. To me it is it is not the designation. It's That is a badge of honor. But that path for us to continue to build on what we have done so far, and achieve what we want to achieve, number one. Why is it important because it puts us also among, among other healthcare systems, as well as cancer programs nationally, that really have been on the same path of discovery, as well as Clinical Care Transformation. And, and we believe that we need to go down that path in order to continue to maintain and accelerate the cancer care that we deliver to our patients. So that investment we believe is important, but because the designation itself is something that we just want to hang on a wall, but it is the work that is needed for us to continue to build on our foundations of clinical research, translational research in cancer, and take this from bench to the bedside, to kind of accelerate that, to take some of the what we've learned in precision medicine, knowing what happens in cancer at the cellular and molecular level, and be able to kind of be part of the discovery of the new drug or the new approach to care for these patients be able to kind of transform healthcare, so that our patients that are getting cancer care, we are not looking at at them only from the perspective of the treatment itself. But what how do they perceive their treatment? How do they perceive their outcomes, what is important for them in that outcomes is that outcome the same between two patients who might have the same cancer, but might be coming from different perspective as how they look at their care. So it is more of a holistic, comprehensive approach to care that we are looking at building all the multidisciplinary teams not building them only, but also bringing them together because many of these have been built. But big bringing them together around the same table to make sure that we have the patient and the center and the interests of the patient as well as wishes and desires is what we are attending to

Unknown Speaker 37:09
when one talks about the NCI designation. NCI stands for the National Cancer Institute, which is a part of the National Institute of Health. And what it what it means is that essentially, your Cancer Center has met the standards highest standards for cancer prevention, clinical service and bringing research forward as Dr. Wen Kyra talked about and really a commitment to develop and translate scientific knowledge from promising discoveries into new treatments for cancer patients. And, you know, on a very personal level, right, it is that you know why cancer is it is because, you know, we see, one of the reasons for this is to bring hope to people. And cancer is one of the places that you know, has such an impact on patients and their families. And so it is why it's it's one of the first places we want to put our shoulders, and also one of the places that we feel brings together the enormous strength of both of our organizations.

Russ White 38:20
Hope is another theme you express a lot norm that that's important. And so let me just ask you both what are some key steps and some next actions as the partnership gets underway, so

Unknown Speaker 38:30
So, Dr. Bush, and I keep saying that the honeymoon now is going through me although as you can imagine, we've worked extremely hard during this honeymoon period. And I just want to add something it is. It was really a honor and a pleasure to work with Dr. Beauchamp and his team during the time where we were living, breathing COVID day in and day out, it just kind of presented to us a glimmer of hope in the midst of a pandemic that when we were facing get in the spring of 2020, we did not know how it's going to be ending things looked quite gloomy. And this is at a time when we are looking at something that is transformational and adding hope to our community to our to our members. And this really helped us go forward during that past few months. Our teams did an amazing, amazing job, you know, meeting for hours, to drive things to bring things together at the same time we are trying to manage COVID whether we are a healthcare system or a university, as you can imagine, now, what comes next. Now that the work that we have thought of we need to start putting a plan for implementation. What does it cancer? What is it passed to National Cancer Institute Cancer Cancer Center designation look like? What are the elements we've put the general bullets on paper now We need to get into the details. What does it mean to recruit the number of researcher? What does it mean to kind of bring our educational resources together and start bringing additional medical students as well as nursing students from, from MSU to be with us on our campuses? What does it mean for us to get our research under the tent of the Health Science Center, so there are operational things that are needed, who are the next group or cohort of physician scientists and researchers that we want to recruit. So there is a lot of things that need to start now kind of, you know, being put into action. Now that we've been thinking about the bigger vision, we need to start getting down to the strategies and tactics,

Unknown Speaker 40:44
it's been a joy as well to work with Adnan and his team, he's really gifted leader that absolutely understands how to go from point A to point B to point C, inclusive inclusively, yet highly efficiently, which is really wonderful. And so what we've we've spent time doing is to put together committees as well underneath the governing board, that represent leadership from both organizations, and a lot of their work then will be laying out, you know, what do we need to accomplish and what timeline as as Dr. linkara said, in the domains of research, education, clinical care, diversity, equity, inclusion in cancer, and there'll be a number of initiatives that will break out from underneath that. We also are excited about, really building on this tradition of educating students at Henry Ford in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, College of Nursing and now at the College of human medicine. So we'll seek to expand those slots in the near term, because it is so important to the missions of the colleges and to to Henry Ford.

Russ White 41:56
Well, we've been talking about this landmark partnership between Henry Ford health system and Michigan State University with two of the key people involved. Dr. Norman J. Beauchamp Jr, is Ms. Hughes, Executive Vice President for Health Sciences, and add man mood, Kara, MD, is Executive Vice President and Chief clinical officer for Henry Ford health system. And we've just scratched the surface. And you can learn a lot more by going to Henry ford.com, slash MSU Health Sciences. And let me just ask you both to kind of as we wrap up some key takeaways, I said, there's a lot there. But what would you like those joining in on our conversation to take away

Unknown Speaker 42:37
hope is really important. And there there is there's an aphorism that says, For those that have health have hope. And for those that have hope, have everything. And for too many people in our community, our state and our nation, they don't have access to health or hope. And this will absolutely make us a national leader, together in bringing health hope and healing, really at the pace at which it's needed and demanded in society. And it will do so in partnership with the community. Where as we've done in other work, we listen and we learn and we work together. And I think that's, that's another strength. And for me, it's it's really a it is a landmark moment, to bring together the scope and scale of the delivery system of Henry Ford that has as this core values education and research, where the university that is so committed as a land grant university to, again to bring health and hope to all so really, really just elated. And maybe I would also just reflect that, through this without the support of our presidents. I mean, their encouragement, their vision, their commitment, and really their their positive working relationships with their boards has been essential. So I'd also reflect on that great things only happen at organizations that share the value of making a difference, and that that value that's held at all levels of leadership,

Unknown Speaker 44:27
said it very beautifully. I really it is. I love his message of hope. And, you know, I think this is this is where we are driving. And I really think that what we are shooting for is real transformation in healthcare. How can we do that transformation in order for us to build that hope and to kind of improve what the the care has delivered to our communities across the board and I think I you know, I want to express my gratitude To our teams to our presidents and boards who have been instrumental in getting us to where we are at the present time in this in this journey. You know, this is the first step, the first mile in a long, long journey, really, but it's a journey, journey of hope, journey of success, journey of health, a journey of transformation. And what's great is that everybody who has been involved believes in it, our leaders, our presidents are visionary in that way, our boards have been supportive. And all our team members and leaders have been engaged into that. So this is really very exciting day today, I can tell you that it's not a single one or the Henry Ford health system for quite who is not cheering for for the work, I'm looking forward to a long, long, successful partnership that's going to kind of to that is going to really transform us together, but also be absolutely impactful to our communities and to the nation.

Russ White 45:59
No doctors Beauchamp and Moon car, it's been an honor to talk with you both about this important landmark partnership, you both been very articulate, I can sense your passion for making all of us healthier. And thank you again for talking with me today. And Carlos.

Unknown Speaker 46:14
Thank you, Russ. You know, one of the things I had not touched on thoughtfully and I didn't bring enough emphasis to is that, you know, we, we have the the honor of sitting with you today. And yet, there are so many people on our teams that were absolutely tireless, I think of the Saturdays and the evenings and the rallies and the racing and the coming back and saying, well, let's both try to reframe it. So we better understand and so if there is a way, you know, to reflect that we just are very indebted to the people, we have the privilege to be a part of their leadership team. That would be really important because it again, I feel fortunate that we get to sit with you, but behind us around us sit an amazing group of people that were absolutely tireless.

Russ White 47:12
I'm glad you mentioned that Norman indeed takes a village. So again, thank you both very much. And I'm Russ white, this is MSU today

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