LSU and FMOL Health | Our Lady of the Lake Award $1.6M to Seven Research Teams
July 8, 2026 · Baton Rouge, LA
LSU and FMOL Health | Our Lady of the Lake have awarded more than $1.6 million in competitive research grants to seven teams from across the state as part of their Collaboration in Action Program, or CAP
Each of the winning teams is working to solve critical health challenges in Louisiana, including for patients suffering from cancer, trauma, and heart and lung disease. CAP also works to advance sports medicine and performance, as well as medical data science, to bring the benefits of innovation directly to those who need it most.
“Research that lifts lives is the clearest measure of a great university, and these seven teams embody exactly the kind of bold, collaborative work that is propelling LSU forward,” LSU Chancellor Jim Dalton said. “Our partnership with Our Lady of the Lake shows what’s possible when world-class researchers focus their talents on the health challenges facing Louisiana. As LSU pursues its goal of becoming a Top 50 research university, partnerships like this one are how we’ll get there—by turning discovery into real impact for the people of our state.”
“The Collaboration in Action Program is a great example of the innovative and transformative work FMOL Health | Our Lady of the Lake and LSU are accomplishing together through our Championship Health Partnership,” said E.J. Kuiper, President and CEO of FMOL Health. “By bringing together our collective expertise and resources, we’re creating opportunities for discoveries that will improve lives, strengthen our communities, and deliver solutions tailored to the unique healthcare needs of Louisiana and the Gulf South.”
Learn more about the winning teams involving Pennington Biomedical researchers:
Reducing Risk for Chronic Disease: Addressing Both Lifestyle and Socioeconomic Factors
Non-medical factors such as transportation, food access, stress, and financial literacy are increasingly recognized as drivers of chronic disease—including heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and dementia—yet few programs have tried to tackle a broad set of them at once. A team of researchers will receive $242,167 from CAP to run an eight-week remote program for Our Lady of the Lake patients with the help of an AI chatbot, hoping to achieve improvements in blood pressure, weight, and stress by tackling social and economic realities alongside personal habits like diet and exercise.
“There is a need to develop more effective prevention interventions for cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death in the country,” said Robert Newton, professor and director of the Preventive Behavioral Medicine Laboratory at Pennington Biomedical. “The findings from our study will determine if intervening on both behavioral and non-medical determinants, along with novel technology, will be effective in reducing risk factors—and it will then serve as a replicable model for addressing other chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and dementia.”
Newton’s team includes Owen Carmichael, professor and director of biomedical imaging at Pennington Biomedical; Bijoyaa Mohapatra, associate professor of communication sciences and disorders at LSU; Reza Ghaiumy Anaraky, assistant professor of computer science and engineering at LSU; Dr. Tiffany Ardoin, associate professor of clinical medicine at LSU Health New Orleans and physician at Our Lady of the Lake; Ibrahim Musa Yola, clinical research scientist at Our Lady of the Lake and assistant professor of clinical research at LSU Health New Orleans.
Mapping How Fat and Liver Tissue “Talk” in Obesity
Obesity drives metabolic disease through faulty signaling between fat and liver, but scientists don’t yet understand this communication at the cellular level. Using spatial transcriptomics on paired tissue samples from weight-loss surgery patients in Louisiana, a team of researchers will receive $250,000 from CAP to map this crosstalk and link it to clinical data to find biomarkers and treatment targets.
The goal, a first-of-its-kind atlas, could advance precision medicine for obesity and lay the groundwork for larger NIH-funded studies.
“Traditional approaches have studied adipose tissue and liver in isolation, leaving a critical gap in understanding how these organs interact to drive disease,” said Dr. Zubaidah Nor Hanipah, associate professor at Pennington Biomedical’s Metamor Institute. “Our work will create the first spatial map linking these tissues, enabling the discovery of biomarkers and therapeutic targets that can reshape obesity care.”
Dr. Nor Hanipah’s team includes John Kirwan, professor and director of the Integrated Physiology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory and the Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science (LA CaTS) Center at Pennington Biomedical; Dr. Yun Shen, assistant professor of research at Pennington Biomedical; Dr. Vance Albaugh, assistant professor at Pennington Biomedical’s Metamor Institute with joint appointments at LSU Health New Orleans and Our Lady of the Lake; Dr. Philip Schauer, director of Pennington Biomedical’s Metamor Institute with joint appointments at LSU Health New Orleans and Our Lady of the Lake; Dr. Jean Domercant at Our Lady of the Lake; and Linglin Xie, associate professor at Texas A&M.
Spit Tests to Detect Brain Injury in Football Players
Football players face high risk of concussions and repeated head impacts, but current blood-based tests aren’t sensitive enough to reliably detect damage, and frequent blood draws are impractical. Saliva offers a less invasive option that could be sampled often to track brain health over time, yet it’s unknown how salivary markers correlate with concussions. A team of researchers supported by $238,073 from CAP will collect saliva from up to 60 college football players throughout a season—and additional blood and saliva from players who get concussed later—comparing the results against established concussion tests of eye movement and thinking ability. This work could lead to easy point-of-care sensors for monitoring brain health in athletes as well as warfighters.
“Concussions and repetitive head impacts remain a significant concern for athletes, yet we still lack practical tools to detect and monitor brain injury early and accurately in real-world settings,” said Guillaume Spielmann, associate professor of kinesiology at LSU and lead trauma researcher at Our Lady of the Lake. “As part of our newly formed Institute for the Health and Performance of Champions (IHPC), we will investigate salivary biomarkers of mild to moderate brain injury in elite collegiate athletes to pave the way for simple and non-invasive monitoring techniques to help protect athletes and other high-performing individuals, such as warfighters and first responders. This project is the natural expansion of the work conducted by members of the IHPC, and aims to improve the health, well-being, and performance of competitive, tactical, and operational athletes.”
Spielmann’s team includes Neil Johannsen, professor of kinesiology at LSU; Tiffany Stewart, Dudley & Beverly Coates Endowed Professor and director of the Behavior Technology Laboratory at Pennington Biomedical; Dr. Hollis O'Neal, associate professor of medicine at LSU Health New Orleans and medical director of research at Our Lady of the Lake; Dalis Boyette, senior associate athletic trainer at LSU Athletics; Micki Collins, associate athletic director and director of sports medicine at LSU Athletics; and Dr. Kevin Callerame, Dr. Kenneth Civello, and Micah Klumpp, director of clinical research, at Our Lady of the Lake.
Keeping Adolescents Engaged in Sports and Physical Activity
About one-third of teens drop out of organized sports by age 14, driven by peer and coach pressure, body image worries, and competing demands. A team of researchers will use $242,508 from CAP to study 12-to-18-year-olds in South Louisiana—both athletes and recent dropouts—using fitness tests, screenings, questionnaires, and interviews to find the factors behind staying or quitting.
Their goal is to design programs and policies to lower barriers and increase continued access to sport, leading to better resilience and lifelong health. The team then hopes to scale these lessons nationwide.
“The question isn’t simply why adolescents drop out of sport—it’s what helps them stay,” said Tiffany Stewart, Dudley & Beverly Coates Endowed Professor and director of the Behavior Technology Laboratory at Pennington Biomedical. “Too many young people leave sport at the very stage of life when they stand to benefit from it most. Our research seeks to understand not only why adolescents disengage, but also the biological, psychological, and social factors that help them remain connected to sport in ways that promote resilience, mental health, and lifelong wellbeing.”
Stewart’s team includes Ryan Hulteen, assistant professor of kinesiology at LSU; Neil Johannsen, professor of kinesiology at LSU; Guillaume Spielmann, associate professor of kinesiology at LSU and lead trauma researcher at Our Lady of the Lake; Samuel Stroope, professor of sociology at LSU; Shelly Mullenix, senior associate athletics director at LSU Athletics; and Hollis O’Neal, associate professor of medicine at LSU Health New Orleans and medical director of research at Our Lady of the Lake.
Read more about other CAP receipients
About the Collaboration in Action Program
The Collaboration in Action Program (CAP) is a strategic research initiative between Championship Health Partners LSU and FMOL Health | Our Lady of the Lake. The grant program aims to advance interdisciplinary, collaborative research addressing critical health challenges in Louisiana—including cardiovascular disease, oncology, trauma and neuroscience, chronic respiratory disease, medical data science, and sports medicine and performance. CAP is part of the larger Championship Health Partnership, a first-of-its-kind, long-term, healthcare-focused partnership that brings together both organizations’ talents, resources, assets, and brands to create lasting impact for Baton Rouge and the state of Louisiana. Learn more about the transformative partnership: lsu.edu/healthcare-partnership.
For more information contact:
Ernie Ballard, Senior Director of Communications & Marketing, ernie.ballard@pbrc.edu, 225-263-2677.
About the Pennington Biomedical Research Center
The Pennington Biomedical Research Center is at the forefront of medical discovery as it relates to understanding the triggers of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia. Pennington Biomedical has the vision to lead the world in promoting nutrition and metabolic health and eliminating metabolic disease through scientific discoveries that create solutions from cells to society. The Center conducts basic, clinical and population research, and is a campus in the LSU System.
The research enterprise at Pennington Biomedical includes over 600 employees within a network of 44 clinics and research laboratories, and 16 highly specialized core service facilities. Its scientists and physician/scientists are supported by research trainees, lab technicians, nurses, dietitians and other support personnel. Pennington Biomedical is a globally recognized state-of-the-art research institution in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For more information, see www.pbrc.edu.
Pennington Biomedical Research Center
6400 Perkins Road
Baton Rouge, LA 70808
