Arizona State University's College of Health Solutions: Innovating for a Healthier Future
The College of Health Solutions (CHS) at Arizona State University (ASU) is dedicated to translating scientific health research and discovery into practical interventions. Its programs prepare students to address the challenges facing our populations to stay healthy, improve their health and manage chronic disease - all toward improving health outcomes. The college offers programs in behavioral health, biomedical informatics and biomedical diagnostics, kinesiology and exercise science, medical studies and health sciences, nutrition, population health, the science of health care delivery, and speech and hearing science. Graduates are prepared to make an impact in the health workforce and shift the focus of health from sickness to wellness, addressing the factors that enable populations to be and stay healthy.
A New Structure for Collaborative Solutions
One year following a large-scale restructuring, Arizona State University’s College of Health Solutions announces growth in enrollment, new faculty and research advancement. Last fall, the College of Health Solutions made a bold move to eliminate its five departments and schools and centralize all of its academic programs and research initiatives. The goal was to give faculty and researchers a better way to collaborate and move their discoveries more rapidly into practice. This unique structure is starting to show results, with faculty creating translational research teams and forming new partnerships with the region’s health community to solve some of Arizona’s most intractable health challenges.
Growth is also evident with 15 new faculty and a nearly 10% increase in student enrollment. In addition, the college has added hands-on learning opportunities in many of its courses, giving students more real-world learning outside the classroom. Students are getting involved with research much earlier in their academic careers. They are also immersing themselves in the surrounding community through more internships and participation in health-related community projects.
Translational Research: Bridging the Gap Between Discovery and Practice
Most health challenges have multiple layers (medical, geographic, environmental, psychosocial and cultural) and addressing just one factor often misses the most effective solutions. Translational research to accelerate improved health outcomes. Translational teams connect university researchers with students, clinical and community partners, and industry innovators to do research that addresses community and individual health needs.
“Tackling health problems through translational science shortens the time between research and implementation so that discovery can directly impact and improve the health of populations in our community more quickly,” said Deborah Helitzer, dean of the College of Health Solutions. “To do that, however, you have to collaborate at all levels, not only within the college, but with researchers in other colleges and universities as well as with community partners and health professionals.”
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Currently, translational teams are addressing these complex health challenges:
- Autism spectrum disorder
- Hearing loss in adults: Communication, connection and community
- High-need, high-cost patients
- Language outcomes in children with developmental disabilities
- Metabolic disease
- Value-based payment for oral health in Arizona
Building relationships with community partners is a key focus. The Autism Spectrum Disorder team, for example, held its first conference recently, giving researchers and local practitioners the chance to pitch their expertise and needs in quick, lightning round sessions. “It was a little like speed dating,” said B. Blair Braden, assistant professor and a leader of the autism translational team. “The event helped remove traditional barriers between researchers, clinicians and community members, and we were able to share research and on-the-ground problems and brainstorm together. That kind of back-and-forth increases the chances of success when evidence-based solutions are implemented in the community.”
Experiential Learning: Engaging Students in Real-World Solutions
To bring the vision of a community-embedded, solution-oriented college to life requires that students have more ways to engage in research and hands-on learning. Students are tasked to reimagine health and create a better future by addressing the many challenges people face every day to stay healthy, improve their health and manage chronic disease. To that end, the college stepped up its research advancement efforts to increase grants awards. “The large amount of regulatory paperwork is a common barrier for researchers in applying for grants, and having more support through the research advancement team has allowed us to submit a greater number of proposals than ever before,” Braden said.
Research proposal awards were the highest since the college formed in 2012, with award funding increasing by 41.5% and faculty more than doubling their research expenditure goals over the previous year. With this increased funding comes more projects in which students can gain research experience. Translational teams actively seek student participation, community connections provide more internships, and courses in citizen science have students combing downtown Phoenix to collect community health data.
Jordan Junk, a College of Health Solutions kinesiology student participating in research with the Metabolic Disease translational team, said that she now realizes how important it is to do research that will benefit the real world, not just in a laboratory. “It’s not just about a single researcher or a group of researchers with the same idea exploring a question. It’s working with other people of different interests and expertise, getting their ideas on a topic so that we can examine it from different angles and get a better, more rounded solution” she said.
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Participating in research allows you to gain knowledge and experience in a specific area of interest to you. In most cases, undergraduate students join research projects already led by faculty members; however, some students are able to initiate a research project and receive guidance from a faculty member. In addition to addressing a problem that may be personal to you and your community, research allows you to build a diverse professional network of faculty and other student researchers. Research experience can help you choose a career path, adds project experience to your resume and prepares you to apply for grants and internships.
The College of Health Solutions Undergraduate Research Initiatives Program, launching fall 2025, offers the unique opportunity to gain real-world research experience alongside expert faculty mentors. Contribute to health innovation, gain resume-building practical experience and receive academic credit. Apply to join the first cohort of researchers. Applicants of all years welcome.
Getting Involved in Research
Determine your interests. Talk to your instructors and other students about how they became involved in research and the projects on which they are currently working. Search for current experiential learning opportunities with the College of Health Solutions Translational Teams. Visit the ASU course search catalog and search for the correct term (ex. 2024), enter “CHS” in the subject box and “translational” in the keyword box. Each credit equals approximately 45 hours of work over the course of the semester. Most graduate students are required to complete research credits as part of their plan of study. Each credit equals approximately 45 hours of work over the course of the semester. Students are encouraged to use one of these research poster templates.
Expanding Expertise: New Faculty and Clinical Practice
New faculty who share the college’s commitment to collaborative research, clinical practice and innovative teaching have joined the college, providing experiential learning to enrich the student experience. Chad Stecher is an assistant professor in the science of health care delivery program. Stecher’s research applies experimental behavioral economics and social network analyses to identify behavioral and policy interventions that improve individual and population health outcomes. News and World Report - bring breadth and depth to the clinical training opportunities for students.
Joshua Breger, director of the college’s Speech-Language Pathology Clinic and assistant clinical professor, brings a wealth of medical and critical care experience from many years as a speech-language pathologist (SLP) and rehabilitation clinic director in Phoenix-area hospitals and clinics. Victoria Clark, assistant clinical professor, has worked as a speech-language pathologist in the region’s K-12 schools, expanding the college’s connections to those populations. Bilingual in Spanish and English, Clark serves children whose parents speak primarily Spanish and supervises graduate students as well as several after-school therapy programs for children. Elizabeth Trueba, assistant clinical professor, brings with her a long career working with adults as a speech-language pathologist for trauma hospitals and certified stroke centers in the Phoenix metro area, expanding even further the variety of clinical experiences for speech-language students.
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Ten new lecturers are also bringing real-world experience to the classroom to prepare students in behavioral health, biomedical informatics and biomedical diagnostics, movement science, medical studies and health sciences, population health, nutrition, science of health care delivery, and speech and hearing science.
Supporting the Future of Health Solutions
You play an integral role in improving the health of our communities when you make a gift through the College of Health Solutions, where researchers, faculty, students and community partners come together to translate health research and discovery into practice to improve health outcomes. Your gift supports the first longitudinal study aiming to improve speech, language, cognitive and motor outcomes in very young children with known risk factors. Your generosity gives children the opportunity to attend a health-oriented summer camp regardless of their family's financial situation.
Conclusion: A Vision for a Healthier Arizona
“The results that we’ve seen over the past year are validating our decision to move forward with an integrated approach to creating community health solutions,” Helitzer said. “We have more opportunities for students to make a real and lasting difference in health as we address some of the most difficult health challenges facing Arizona. The culture of innovation at ASU has made it possible to implement a new vision that can more quickly improve health outcomes.”
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