“I want people to see a future in the cardiometabolic health research at Henry Ford and MSU, and that we can grow this together,” said Emilio Mottillo, Ph.D., co-chair of the Henry Ford + MSU Cardiometabolic Health Committee and a Henry Ford Health hypertension research associate scientist. Mottillo spoke at the inaugural Henry Ford + MSU Cardiometabolic Health Research Symposium, which drew nearly 200 registered attendees on September 25 in Novi, Mich.
Opening remarks highlighted the growth of the Henry Ford + MSU cardiometabolic health community and the work underway to strengthen the research enterprise across both institutions. Speakers encouraged participants to look beyond individual projects and disciplines, identify common interests and explore opportunities where collaborative efforts can accelerate scientific discovery.
The theme of collaboration extended into the keynote presentation by Joseph Wu, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and the Simon H. Stertzer, MD, Professor of Medicine and Radiology at Stanford University. Before discussing advances in stem cells, genomics and artificial intelligence, Wu shared a lesson he often gives his postdoctoral scholars: work hard, work smart and work together. The most important of those, he said, is to work together.
The emphasis on collaboration was reflected in the symposium’s new Rapid Research Networking event developed through a project by participants in the first cohort of the Health Innovation Leadership Academy (HILA).
Participants completed a survey about their research interests in advance. Those responses were then used to identify potential matches across disciplines and institutions. During the event, researchers participated in a series of structured three-minute conversations designed to introduce them to potential collaborators and identify common areas of interest.
“This was a way for people to make eyeball-to-eyeball connections, and not to solve the world’s problems in three minutes, but to find people who you might want to work with in the future to solve the world’s problems,” said HILA alumna Michelle Schotzko, R.N., who developed the concept with Shilpa Kavuturu, M.D., and their team.
Beyond the networking session, research presentations throughout the day showcased the breadth of cardiometabolic work underway across the partnership, from hypertension and cardiovascular disease to population health and precision medicine. The afternoon featured projects supported through the 2026 Cardiometabolic Health Seed Funding Program, spanning artificial intelligence, heart failure, obesity, diabetic kidney disease and maternal health.
“There's a lot of expertise here that we don't even know about,” said Charles Hong, M.D., Ph.D., co-chair of the Henry Ford + MSU Cardiometabolic Health Committee, chair of the Department of Medicine and Research Foundation Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University “If one person walks away with one meaningful collaboration that they otherwise would not have, I would consider that a success.”
A photo gallery from the event is available here.