Michigan Counties

In the fall of 2007, The Michigan Alliance for the National Children’s Study (MANCS) was successful in its proposal to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to become part of the first full wave of the National Children’s Study (NCS). MANCS was awarded an $18.5 million 5-year contract to conduct the study in Wayne County, Michigan.

Wayne County is the largest and most urban of the Michigan counties included in the national sample. In Wayne County, the MANCS team has begun work for the National Children’s Study, including hiring staff, developing community engagement plans and selecting areas where participants will be recruited. After a period of about two years of local preparation, enrollment of study participants will begin in selected regions of the county.

In September of 2008, the MANCS team also secured $57 million in funding from the NIH to conduct the NCS in Genesee, Grand Traverse, Lenawee, and Macomb Counties, which represents one more step in our effort to study child health and the causes of ailments such as autism, cerebral palsy and asthma in five Michigan counties for a period of 23 years.

Grand Traverse County is in the northwest region of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The Lead Location Investigator for MANCS in Grand Traverse County is Michael Collins, MD, MS, who is the Medical Director for the Grand Traverse County Health Department. Dr. Collins is a board-certified Obstetrician-Gynecologist who has a Master’s degree in epidemiology from Michigan State University and previously served on the Michigan State University faculty.

Lenawee County sits on the Michigan/Ohio border in the southern part of the state. The Lead Location Investigator for MANCS in Lenawee County is Daniel Keating, PhD. Dr. Keating is a Research Professor and Director of the Center for Human Growth and Development at the University of Michigan, an interdisciplinary research unit that promotes research on child and youth development.

Genesee County is Michigan’s fourth-largest county in area and is located in southeastern Michigan.  The Lead Location Investigator for MANCS in Genesee County is William Lyman, PhD. Dr. Lyman is the Carman & Ann Adams Endowed Chair in Pediatric Research for the Children’s Research Center of Michigan at Children’s Hospital of Michigan and Associate Chair of Pediatrics for Research at Wayne State University School of Medicine.

Macomb County was the third county organized in the Michigan territory.  The southern part of Macomb County is comprised of the near northeastern suburbs of Detroit and parts of the county border on Lake St. Clair. The Lead Location Investigator for MANCS in Macomb County is Christine Cole Johnson, PhD, MPH. Dr. Johnson is the Associate Chair for Research in the Henry Ford Health System Department of Biostatistics and Research Epidemiology.