Humana Foundation Grants $1M to Address Food Insecurity, Mental Health

Humana’s philanthropic arm, the Humana Foundation, has awarded research grants totaling $1 million to three universities that will go toward improving food security and mental health in their communities.

The $250,000 research grants are part of the Foundation’s health equity strategy and were presented to the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston’s School of Public Health, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health and School of Social Work, and Yale University’s School of Medicine.

“The Humana Foundation is proud to support solutions-focused research that contributes to national health equity as a core part of the new strategy we announced at the beginning of the year,” Tiffany Benjamin, CEO of the Humana Foundation, said in the press release. “We’re generating knowledge that translates into practical, scalable solutions for removing the barriers that prevent people from living connected, healthy lives.”

The $500,000 in research grants provided to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will focus on addressing nutrition and mental health among seniors and school-aged children.

At UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, Lindsey Haynes-Maslow, PhD, MHA, plans to use the research grant to study the benefits of nutritional, home-delivered meals and social connectedness programs for low-income seniors. A 12-week intervention aims to address food insecurity and loneliness.

“Food is an integral part of society,” Haynes-Maslow said. “It is one of the most basic human needs we require to physically thrive, but it also fulfills our social needs. Food brings people together. It is a uniter and a conversation starter. This grant is an opportunity to examine how we can nourish socially isolated seniors’ physical and mental health.”

Paul Lanier, PhD, at UNC’s School of Social Work, will use the funds to research the potential for youth peer leaders to improve suicide prevention programs. The grant will support efforts to identify and recruit racially and ethnically diverse peer leaders at high schools and deploy them more effectively.

“We’re grateful for the opportunity provided by the Humana Foundation to improve youth mental health,” Sheryl Zimmerman, Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development and Kenan Distinguished Professor at UNC School of Social Work, said. “Dr. Lanier is a nationally recognized expert in conducting rigorous research to improve children’s mental health services, and his research in prevention science will be enriched by this grant.”

Humana partnered with UNC’s Eshelman Institute in February 2023, granting $750,000 to the school to expand a program piloting health and nutrition solutions developed by Black collegiate entrepreneurs.

The research grant awarded to the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston’s School of Public Health will help address food insecurity and health outcomes for at-risk children and their families. Shreela Sharma, PhD, will evaluate how a 32-week produce prescription program impacts the mental and physical health of children who are overweight or obese and are in low-income families.

Yale School of Medicine will use its research grant to develop care planning tools to improve mental health outcomes for caregivers and seniors with dementia. Terri R Fried, MD, will test whether group visits to address care planning positively impact caregivers’ and patients’ sense of connectedness.

These grants continue Humana’s goals to boost food security and mental health among its members. In April 2023, the payer funded a program at the University of Florida that repackages food hospitals plan to discard. The food is then delivered to seniors who have been waitlisted for Meals on Wheels.

In July 2023, the Humana Foundation provided philanthropic grants to a USAA initiative that aims to reduce veteran suicide and improve mental healthcare by expanding suicide prevention programs and strengthening the future clinician workforce.