Menopause is one of the most universal yet least understood health challenges, directly affecting half the population while remaining critically under-researched. A $1.2 million gift from Michael J. Kelly ’92 and Kristin Miljus Kelly will accelerate an emerging research effort led by the Cornell Duffield College of Engineering to close this gap, using cutting-edge technology and interdisciplinary expertise to change how women experiencing this transformative phase of life are treated and supported.

Credit: Taylor Glenn/Provided

“Michael and I are thrilled to be able to invest in research that will have tangible, long-term benefits for women’s health,” Kristin Kelly said. “We are glad that Duffield Engineering is assembling a range of collaborators and putting needed focus on this complex and woefully overlooked human health issue, and we hope this gift will inspire others to support this important work.”

“As the parent of a Cornellian and a former student,” Michael Kelly ’92 said, “I can attest that Duffield Engineering’s faculty are among the best in the world, and we look forward to all the good that will come from their work under this initiative.”

A growing consortium of faculty across Cornell’s Ithaca campus and Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City recently formed the Menopause Health Engineering initiative to tackle unanswered questions around menopause and its links to aging-related diseases. Founded by Nozomi Nishimura, associate professor of biomedical engineering, it is one of the pillars of Duffield Engineering’s broader Engineering Innovations in Medicine initiative, led by the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering.

“We are so grateful to the Kellys for recognizing the importance of finally tackling this challenge, which has been historically hindered by stigmas and societal biases,” said Claudia Fischbach-Teschl, the James M. and Marsha McCormick Family Director of the Meinig School and the leader of Engineering Innovations in Medicine. “With our collaborators in the College of Veterinary Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine and elsewhere, we are poised to make a meaningful difference by leveraging our expertise in advanced technology and systems thinking.”

The generous contribution from the Kellys will support graduate students and postdoctoral researchers working on teams that bring together faculty from multiple Cornell colleges. These researchers will provide critical connections between the teams, enabling the sharing of technologies, experimental models and data that will amplify the impact of the work being done across the schools and campuses. They will then take what they learn and apply it to their future research and career endeavors focused on advancing women’s health, expanding the influence of the initiative.

The benefits of the initiative will extend even further than some may realize.

“By studying how women’s health is regulated across aging, rather than treating women and men as biologically the same, we ultimately benefit men as well by improving our understanding of their conditions,” said Fischbach-Teschl. “Ultimately, this work will help all research and medicine to become more personalized.”