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Jennifer Garner, the John G. Searle Assistant Professor of Nutritional Sciences, reflects on growing up in rural Michigan, learning “strategically applied stubbornness” from her parents, and finding an unexpected path from dietetics to academia. Through mentorship and community-based research, she builds a career in food security, policy and science communication—grounded in care, curiosity and purpose.
How witnessing hardship guides purpose, and how students and faculty turn resolve into action: Why people choose public health often highlights community, equity, and the drive to improve systems that fail people—encouraging prospective students to remember their “why” and keep building change.
Michigan Public Health’s Nutrition Counseling Center trains future dietitians while providing free nutrition services to University of Michigan students and community members. The innovative program integrates hands-on counseling experience throughout graduate education, using motivational interviewing techniques to help clients discover sustainable solutions while building students’ confidence and clinical skills.
AI is not only enhancing the way knowledge is generated and shared, but it’s also redefining the potential for healthcare and public health advancements. Behind its research might, the University of Michigan School of Public Health leads the charge in this transformative paradigm shift.
The introductory course Foundations of Sustainable Food Systems explores the complexities and nuances of this topic, offering students all across the University of Michigan the ability to explore some of the interrelationships between core concepts within a food system, looking through the lenses of public health, environmental sustainability and the food policy process.
Culinary medicine is something Louise Merriman holds “near and dear to her heart”—a concept she has incorporated in her career as a Registered Dietitian for nearly 40 years. Merriman is supporting the University of Michigan School of Public Health’s Department of Nutritional Sciences through a new, seven-figure planned gift, the Drs. Kenneth Scott and Amherst Merriman Culinary Medicine Fund.