Health

News

Rx Kids shows promising results after its first year

Dec 9, 2024

Since its start in January of 2024, Rx Kids has been a lifesaver for young families in Flint Michigan. The program was co-founded by the Ford School's Luke Shaefer and provides Flint residents with $1,500 mid-pregnancy, and $500 each month for the...

News

Ford school faculty available to weigh in on 2024 elections

Jan 28, 2024

The University of Michigan has published an experts guide to the 2024 elections. Ford School faculty are available to offer insights on relevant issues impacting the elections, including the following: Economics Betsey Stevenson, professor of...

Red, white, and blue balloons and stars with a large white checkmark

News

New Michigan landscape map highlights counties affected hardest by opioid epidemic

Nov 9, 2023

A new landscape map and analysis created by the University of Michigan show demographic information with a connection to opioid use disorder, examining data such as unemployment rates, annual income, opioid-related hospitalizations, and...

Publication

New study ties exposure to armed conflict violence in childhood with subsequent alcohol use disorder

Sep 27, 2023

Exposure to nearby violence has been shown to increase the onset of alcohol use disorders (AUD), especially in young people. In new research, William Axinn, Ford School professor and research professor at the Survey Research Center and Population...

Publication

Ayanian, IHPI report provides key insights as Medicaid 'unwinding' continues and more states expand eligibility

Aug 25, 2023

At a pivotal time for Medicaid health coverage for Americans with low incomes, a report on the impacts of Michigan's Medicaid expansion shows very positive effects, as well as opportunities for continued improvements. The report was produced by...

News

PPIA students reflect on their summer of study and social life

Aug 2, 2023

What are the dynamics of inequity in labor markets? How do we determine appropriate categories for people in a multicultural society? How is the U.S. approach to ethnicity and nationality different from what they are doing in Europe? These were...

Group of PPIA students posing in front of Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy courtyard

News

Engaged Learning Student Projects Catalog: Preparing Ford School students for leadership

Jun 29, 2023

During the Winter Term 2023, Ford School students were involved in projects with federal, state, county, city, and township governments, school districts, non-profit organizations, and commissions. They worked with the school’s numerous research...

Weill Hall entrance with "Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy" etched into the glass

News

Ford School expert: One year after Dobbs decision, restrictive abortion laws part of a 'willful policy vacuum'

Jun 26, 2023

As the one-year anniversary passes on the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade—and with it the constitutional right to an abortion—University of Michigan public policy professor Paula Lantz offers insights on the ramifications of that...

Publication

Thacher on coercion in mental health treatment

Jun 26, 2023

The death of Jordan Neely on a subway car in New York in May remains in the news, as a former marine, Daniel Penny, has been indicted for the chokehold that killed him. In the background, details of Neely’s mental illness has reignited a debate...

In the Media

Lantz fact-checks unfounded unsafe medication abortion claims

May 23, 2023 USA Today

Paula Lantz, USA Today: Medication abortion is safe, and a large number of studies validate this, according to Paula Lantz, an abortion policy expert at the University of Michigan. The New York Times analyzed over 100 studies spanning countries and...

News

The impact of Title 42 on disease prevention and migrants' well-being

May 17, 2023

Title 42 was implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic under the Trump administration with the aim of restricting the entry of migrants into the United States, citing concerns over potential disease spread and resource strain. However, the...

Photo of Ann Lin in her office at the U-M's Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies

News

Suburban Detroit Water Unaffordability: Causes, Consequences, and the Need for Comprehensive Policy Interventions

May 16, 2023

A policy brief from Poverty Solutions outlines the need for policy reform in the delivery of clean water, based on assessments of economically diverse communities in the Detroit area. Michigan is blessed with a significant portion of the world’s...

News

Ford School's Paula Lantz: Implications of restrictive abortion policies on maternal health, social welfare

May 10, 2023

Restrictive abortion policies in the U.S. are predicted to have negative effects on maternal health, women's economic opportunities and social welfare systems. A multidisciplinary team of experts from the University of Michigan warns that...

News

Ford School student presents research at U-M event for WHO head

Apr 21, 2023

The Director-General of the World Health Organization Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, came to the U-M campus to receive the Thomas Francis Jr. Medal in Global Public Health, awarded to individuals who have made significant contributions to the...

News

Advancing Health Policy Research and Reducing Social Disparities in Health

Mar 13, 2023

Paula Lantz, PhD, joins Michigan Minds to discuss the social determinants of declining birth rates, the role of public policy in improving population health and reducing social disparities in health, and the particular importance of recognizing...

News

Governor Gretchen Whitmer to speak at the University of Michigan, in conversation with CNN Anchor Chris Wallace

Feb 26, 2023

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer will visit the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor on Wednesday, March 8, for a special event alongside CNN Anchor Chris Wallace. Beginning at 6:00pm at Rackham Auditorium, the hour-long fireside chat...

News

Ford School welcomes local and state elected officials to boost collaborative work

Feb 16, 2023

Elected officials from local, county, and state government came to the Ford School to hear about the potential for collaborations with their offices and the School’s faculty, research centers, and students. Fifteen members of the Michigan State...

Local Public Officials at the Ford School

News

Announcing winter 2023 Ford School events

Jan 11, 2023

The Ford School is pleased to announce an exciting lineup for the winter 2023 Policy Talks @ the Ford School series and other special public events hosted with partners from across campus. Events are free and open to the public unless otherwise...

Headshots of Peter Meijer, Jelani Cobb, Jeh Johnson, Andy Levin, and Angela Harrelson

News

EPI examines education impacts of the Flint Water Crisis

Dec 4, 2022

Eight years ago, the Flint water crisis captured national attention when the city’s tap water was shown to be contaminated with lead. Since then, researchers have been rigorously studying this crisis and measuring the effects of this lead exposure...

Photo of the Flint Water Plant water tower in Flint, Michigan

Publication

Lantz analyzes direct democracy gains regarding abortion access

Nov 23, 2022

When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down 50 years of abortion access by overturning Roe v. Wade in its June 2022 Dobbs decision, guaranteeing those rights fell back to individual states. Access battles will continue for years in state legislatures,...

News

Has India's new federal abortion law made it a safer place for women?

Nov 2, 2022

India's top court upheld a woman's right to an abortion up to 24 weeks into pregnancy, regardless of marital status, a widely hailed decision by women's rights activists. The right to abortion has proved contentious globally after the U.S....

Publication

Are sanitary pads a panacea for impoverished women?

Sep 21, 2022

In an era when the Indian government has prioritized women's menstrual health and movies like Netflix's "Period. End of Sentence" are garnering worldwide attention, the distribution of disposable sanitary pads to women in India's rural areas has...

News

Municipal governance, economic inclusion, and environmental action among the topics covered at Policy Pitch Competition

Sep 14, 2022

“Here's a truth that bears repeating, ‘Budgets are moral documents.'” So began the presentation of Alex Perez-Garcia (MPP, MBA ‘24) to the 5th annual Ford School Policy Pitch Competition, as she described her summer internship in the Office of...

Photo of students and judges at the 2022 Policy Pitch Competition

In the Media

Parthasarathy comments on new ARPA-H director

Sep 13, 2022 Nature

President Joe Biden recently named Renee Wegrzyn as the inaugural director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), a new agency tasked with finding innovative solutions to biomedical problems. Nature asked Shobita...

Professor Shobita Parthasarathy leads a discussion in the Betty Ford Classroom

News

New study explores the negative effects of housing instability on mental health

Aug 31, 2022

The Great Recession may have affected Americans’ well-being in ways previously not well understood. A new study has found that people who experienced housing instability as a result of the economic downturn during the 2007-09 recession were...

News

Ford School events for fall 2022 explore racial justice, international affairs, the state of democracy and more

Aug 30, 2022

The Ford School is pleased to announce an exciting lineup for the fall 2022 Policy Talks @ the Ford School series and other special public events hosted with partners from across campus. We are hosting distinguished policymakers, scholars,...

Ambassador Susan Rice and Michael Barr lead an event at the Ford School

In the Media

"A new emergency number is required in the post-Roe world" - Kleiman and Lopez

Jul 27, 2022 Michigan Advance

Legal confusion in the wake of the Supreme Court's overturn of Roe v. Wade is engendering fear in women who may have miscarriages, Molly Kleinman, managing director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program, and William Lopez, affiliate...

Photo of the Supreme Court of the United States building

Publication

Ayanian: Michigan provides lessons for Medicaid expansion

Jul 24, 2022

More than a decade after the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, states continue to wrestle with the implementation of one of its primary provisions: the expansion of state Medicaid. Since passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, 38...

News

Lantz and Udow-Phillips on the potential effects of the Roe decision

Jul 19, 2022

The progress that has been made in Michigan's child welfare system could be put at risk by a ban on abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court's Roe decision. The effects "could add thousands more children to the system in the coming years and...

Marianne Udow-Phillips and Paula Lantz headshots

News

Event advisory: What comes after Roe v. Wade? Michigan experts to discuss law, policy, health and economics

Jun 1, 2022

Date 2-3 p.m. Wednesday, June 8, 2022 Event "What comes after Roe? Michigan Experts Discuss Law, Policy, Health and Economics" Details The U-M Center for the Education of Women+, Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWG) and...