BOLD Ideas
As a land-grant university, our work is to serve. We are committed to reaching all corners of our state and improving the health outcomes for all Minnesotans. Through research, seeking new discoveries, and continually learning, we can pave the way for generations to come.
Our BOLD Ideas grant program encourages interdisciplinary collaborations to tackle the complex issues affecting community and individual health. These include:
- Health disparities and influencing social determinants of health
- Lack of access to needed health care and health promotion resources in rural Minnesota (closed hospitals/lack of providers/missing programs and needed expertise) and some urban settings (i.e., dentistry, dietitians)
- Health care provider burnout at all levels of training and career
- Technology that facilitates, rather than hinders, health and health care
- Achieving new advances in health and care through broader collaboration
- Opioid and addiction crises
- Addressing the societal and social issues of aging well
- Bioethical challenges resulting from the above
Advancing health in our communities requires thinking outside of the box, let’s work together.
Obesity Mapping with State-Issued Identification Cards
Obesity Mapping with State-Issued Identification Cards
The group will generate obesity maps for fine geographic units in Minnesota, a novel practice which would help address the problem of socioeconomic disparities in obesity.
PI: Lucia Levers
Co-investigators: Peter Wiringa, Ann Zukoski, Jacob Walker-Swaney
- Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, U-Spatial, Minnesota Department of Health
An Innovative Dementia Friendly Living Space
An Innovative Dementia Friendly Living Space
Dementia currently affects 5.4 million adults in the US alone, with the number projected to balloon to 106.2 million by 2050. To ensure safety, maintain quality of life, and attempt to offer uninterrupted assistance, the interdisciplinary group are developing a sensor based robotic assistant.
PI: Arshia Khan
Co-investigators: Lisa Fitzpatrick, Alexis Elder, Catherine McCarty, Michael Swanoski, Marat Bakpayave
- Science and Engineering, Fine Arts, Liberal Arts, Medicine, Pharmacy, Business (Duluth)
Using Natural Language Processing to Extract Predictors of Medical Device Adverse Events
Using Natural Language Processing to Extract Predictors of Medical Device Adverse Events
Minnesota is a global hub for the medical device industry, the team will work to provide a key ingredient to assessing medical device safety and whether device regulation may hinder health.
PI: Pinar Karaca-Mandic
Co-investigators: Soumya Sen, Yi Zhu, Alexander Everhart
- Management, Public Health
Holistic Approaches in Addressing Complex Health Disparities at the Intersection of Pets and Their People
Holistic Approaches in Addressing Complex Health Disparities at the Intersection of Pets and Their People
The team aims to address important health disparities among resource-limited pet owners in Minnesota with a multidisciplinary approach that values the importance of the human-animal bond, equitable care, and accessible services.
PI: Emily Walz
Co-investigators: Cheryl Robertson, Megan Morrissey
- Veterinary Medicine, Nursing, Social Work
Dental Hygiene/Medicine Hospital Rounding Collaboration
Dental hygiene and internal medicine faculty piloted an interprofessional education in-patient rounding experience to address limited oral health education in medical school curricula and caring for patients with multiple comorbidities.
PI: Cynthia Stull
Co-investigators: Kathleen Lane, Melissa Plesac
- Dentistry, Medicine
Utilizing Innovative Clinic Design to Address Health Disparities
Utilizing Innovative Clinic Design to Address Health Disparities
The team will address health disparities by designing a welcoming and community-focused space for the Broadway Family Medicine Clinic. The clinic serves the North Minneapolis community where life expectancy is over 9 years lower than that of other areas within Hennepin County.
PI: Kacey Justesen
Co-investigators: Tom Fisher, Jon Hallberg, Jason Ricco, Jess Roberts
Medicine, Design
Projects Funded in 2019
Fostering Connections between Design and Health
- College of Design, Medical School, Earl E. Bakken Medical Device Center, Weisman Art Museum, Community-University Health Care Center, School of Nursing, School of Public Health, Center for Excellence in Primary Care, Mayo Clinic, BioTech Institute
Transformative Care for Preventing Chronic Pain and Addiction
- School of Dentistry, Medical School, School of Public Health and the Center for Spirituality and Healing
The Influence of Teamwork and Interprofessional Networks on Health Care Provider Burnout
- College of Pharmacy, Fairview Health Services, Carlson School of Management
Global is Local: Rural Health Care Pilot for MN Migrant Farmworker Families through Interprofessional Community Engagement
- Pharmacy, Dentistry, HCMC, Medicine
Addressing the Wicked Problem of Community Food Insecurity through Upstream Approaches and Multi-disciplinary Collaboration to Improve Population Health
- Family Medicine, Public Health, Extension, Nursing, United Way, Community-University Health Care Center (CUHCC)
Tackling the Wicked Problem of Adolescent Mental Illness through Art
- Weisman, Rochester Art Department, Medicine
Development of Impedance Sensing Device to Enable Early Detection and Prevention of Pressure Ulcers
- Science and Engineering, Pediatrics, Surgery, Nursing, Fairview, Masonic Children’s Hospital
Minnesota Rural Practice Based Network to Monitor and Respond to Health Needs in Rural Minnesota
- Institute of Health Informatics, Public Health, Duluth Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy
Housing, Health, and Optimal Healing Environments
- Design, Public Health, Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, Allied Health, Community-University Health Care Center, Pediatrics