Florida State University has launched the Institute for Connecting Nutrition and Health (ICON-Health), a new research center focused on addressing diet-related chronic diseases through multidisciplinary nutrition research.
ICON-Health brings together faculty from nearly all FSU colleges and programs, leveraging partnerships with FSU Health and medical centers. The goal is to lead research aimed at improving public health and economic prosperity.
“ICON-Health sets the foundation for where we’re heading in nutrition and health outcomes, lowering chronic disease and improving life for millions of people,” said FSU Vice President for Research Stacey S. Patterson. “FSU has an opportunity to bring together brilliant researchers from a variety of disciplines to work on problems that will move nutritional science forward.”
The institute is led by Regan Bailey, a professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine and member of the National Academy of Medicine, and Patrick Stover, a professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and member of the National Academy of Science, both at the FSU College of Medicine.
Bailey and Stover introduced ICON-Health to researchers and clinical partners during the FSU Discovery Days event at the Dunlap Champions Club. Bailey emphasized the everyday impact of food on health, noting, “Is there anyone here who hasn’t eaten in the past three days?” No hands went up, highlighting her point — food is an environmental factor that most people interact with multiple times every day. Its impact on health is immense, which makes the opportunity for improving outcomes great as well.
Bailey’s research has focused on identifying nutrition risk in specific population subgroups and has informed food fortification policies and dietary supplement development. “Through research and education, we are hoping to reduce the burden of chronic disease on people and lower their economic impact,” Bailey said. “There’s a commitment from FSU leadership to bring nutrition to the forefront. That is what is going to catalyze all these different relationships and collaborations across campus. That’s our goal at ICON-Health, to connect disparate researchers with common goals, so we can leverage opportunities and research dollars to make the most impact.”
Stover studies the biochemical, genetic, and epigenetic mechanisms connecting nutrition and health, including the role of food fortification and nutrient supplements in preventing and managing diseases. His work has explored how folate, a B-vitamin, affects biological processes such as DNA synthesis and repair, and how individual genetic differences and chronic diseases influence nutrient needs.
“ICON-Health is an institute established to address some of the most pressing societal problems that are facing our nation and the world,” Stover said. “There’s an opportunity to do innovative science around interesting problems where we have real knowledge gaps. We’re addressing one of the most pressing problems facing our society, which is how do we make food the solution to human health?”
Stover added, “We need to address this problem. It’s one of the most pressing problems facing virtually every single American.”
During the event, faculty from multiple FSU colleges discussed how their research connects to nutrition, illustrating the interdisciplinary nature of the challenge. Presenters came from the College of Medicine, Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, College of Law, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Communication and Information, and the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering.
“FSU developed ICON-Health because providing healthy nutrition is an interdisciplinary problem,” Patterson said. “It can’t be solved by one group, one department, or even one university. The opportunity for ICON-Health to collaborate with researchers at FSU and across the country is paramount.”
The event included presentations on topics such as health law and the gut microbiome’s role in health. Bailey remarked, “From these lightning talks, we saw how complex nutrition is — from cells to societies — that’s why we all need to work together to advance this mission.”
Additional information about ICON-Health and opportunities for partnership are available on the institute’s website.
