Rice University has launched the Institute of Health Resilience and Innovation (IHRI), a pioneering research initiative dedicated to understanding the lifetime impacts of health stressors and developing targeted interventions to improve well-being across diverse populations.
Led by director Christopher Fagundes, professor of psychological sciences, along with deputy director Tony Brown, distinguished professor of sociology at Rice, and executive director Kristi English, the institute will examine how biological, psychological and social factors interact over time to shape health outcomes. By bridging scientific discovery with real-world applications, IHRI seeks to promote health resilience at both the individual and community levels.
“The launch of the Institute of Health Resilience and Innovation exemplifies Rice University’s commitment to leading in health innovations — a strategic priority for our institution,” Rice President Reginald DesRoches said. “By leveraging our strengths in interdisciplinary research and collaborating with the Texas Medical Center, we are poised to make meaningful contributions to understanding and improving health resilience. This institute will not only generate groundbreaking discoveries but also translate them into real-world solutions that benefit individuals and communities, both in Houston and beyond.”
“The Institute of Health Resilience and Innovation embodies Rice’s dedication to tackling society’s most pressing challenges through interdisciplinary research,” said Rachel Kimbro, dean of the School of Social Sciences. “By combining expertise from multiple disciplines, including those grounded in the social sciences, IHRI will generate insights that lead to actionable solutions, advancing health resilience for individuals and communities. I’m proud to see our faculty leading this vital work and collaborating across disciplines to drive meaningful change.”
Comprehensive approach to health resilience
IHRI is pioneering a “cells-to-society” approach to understanding health, investigating how social determinants — including socioeconomic status, geographic location and social conditions — shape well-being over a lifetime. By connecting molecular-level changes within cells to broader social and environmental influences, the institute seeks to build a holistic understanding of health resilience and uncover the complex pathways that drive differences in health trajectories across the lifespan.
“This institute reflects Rice’s commitment to advancing innovations in health,” Fagundes said. “By bringing together experts from multiple disciplines and fostering collaboration, we aim to uncover how individuals and communities can better withstand and recover from health challenges. Our research will lead to real-world solutions that strengthen resilience at every level: biological, psychological, social and environmental.”
Once risk patterns are identified spanning all levels, IHRI will target the most strategic intervention points to drive positive change. By addressing systemic stressors, strengthening community and individual resilience and creating tailored strategies, the institute will work to close health gaps and enhance well-being across populations.
Houston as a living laboratory for health research
As one of the most diverse cities in the nation, Houston provides an ideal setting to study the complex factors influencing health resilience, institute leaders said. With its vast socioeconomic diversity, wide-ranging health care access and varied environmental exposures, the city serves as a real-world laboratory for identifying and addressing health resilience.
“Houston is a microcosm of the broader health challenges faced nationwide,” Fagundes said. “By studying the city’s diverse populations, we can develop tailored, scalable interventions that promote health at both local and national levels.”
Bridging research with the Texas Medical Center
A key component of IHRI’s mission is strengthening collaboration between Rice faculty and the Texas Medical Center (TMC) to accelerate the translation of research into clinical practice. This will include partnerships with medical professionals, health care institutions and translational research teams within the TMC.
IHRI will act as a facilitator for interdisciplinary collaboration, assisting faculty in navigating the complexities of clinical research and partnering with the TMC on research partnerships.
Empowering researchers and students
IHRI will provide crucial support for students, postdoctoral researchers and faculty by developing infrastructure for pilot studies, offering seed grants for early stage research and hosting educational workshops to streamline the grant application process. The institute will also provide guidance on grant development and offer dedicated funding for dissertation projects focused on health resilience, particularly those that take a transdisciplinary approach.
Additionally, IHRI will work to establish infrastructure that allows researchers at all levels — students, postdocs and faculty — to integrate cutting-edge methods and technologies into their existing research at reduced or no cost. The goal is to generate high-quality data that can support competitive applications for large-scale grants and long-term funding opportunities.
English, longtime manager of Fagundes’ lab, will oversee these efforts.
“By equipping researchers with the necessary resources, we hope to accelerate scientific discoveries and practical interventions that promote health resilience regardless of where a person was born or the circumstances they face,” English said.
She called her transition into the role “an incredible honor and an exciting new chapter” and emphasized the importance of collaborating with researchers, practitioners and community partners to develop innovative solutions that improve health resilience for all.
For more information about the IHRI, visit https://ihri.rice.edu.