International Studies & Programs

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Health & Nutrition

Along with extensive training programs for physicians and nurses, Michigan State University is actively engaged in international medical research and applied medicine.


This list represents a portion of MSU's work in this thematic area. Please contact Global IDEAS for potential opportunities to partner with MSU and further information on MSU expertise in international health and nutrition.

Institute of International Health

The Institute of International Health (IIH) was established at Michigan State University in 1987 to marshal university resources to address problems of world health and to serve as a center for information on world health issues. IIH is a focal point at MSU for facilitating faculty and student research and academic interests in international health and for international health projects overseas. IIH works with health-related colleges, as well as with social and agricultural scientists, nutritionists, and a variety of interdisciplinary units, to foster and coordinate research, education, and development at the international level. Collaboration with these units enhances the IIH's ability to approach world health issues from a multidisciplinary perspective by enabling the Institute to draw expertise for its international operational requirements from many disciplines. The multidisciplinary perspective provides inputs to the health sector in its broadest sense, from the medical sciences to nutrition, from the sociocultural correlates of health to the effects of the environment on human health. IIH collaborates with MSU-affiliated community hospitals throughout the State of Michigan that are used for the clinical training of our medical students. These hospitals contribute health experts for IIH's overseas projects and hospital-based training for visiting foreign health professionals.

International Center of Excellence for Malaria Research 

Funded the National Institutes of Health, MSU is a host of an International Center of Excellence for Malaria Research (ICEMR), with ongoing research and operations in Malawi. The overarching goal of the ICEMR program is to establish research centers in malaria-endemic settings that will provide the necessary knowledge, tools, and evidence-based strategies for use by government organizations and health care institutions. MSU researchers with the ICEMR are some of the foremost global experts in cerebral malaria in children and are on the cutting edge of the field. MSU’s ICEMR team works closely with partners in Malawi and from other US institutions to conduct its important work.

Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering

MSU’s Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering (IQ) works to create and advance tools for quantitative analyses and interrogation of complex biological systems, and uses these tools for a greater understanding of life and living systems to enable improved control of health and disease. IQ is a research collaboration among the Colleges of Engineering, Human Medicine and Natural Science at Michigan State University. The institute is devoted to basic and applied research at the interface of life sciences, engineering, information sciences, and other physical and mathematical sciences.