Gatton Foundation Endowed Chairs Announced; Innovative Research Pioneered in Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May. 13, 2024) — Expanding the Horizon of Community Health and Water Quality

The Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (CAFE) at the University of Kentucky announces the conferment of the Gatton Foundation Endowed Chairs to faculty members, Alison Gustafson and Tiffany Messer, made possible through the Gatton Foundation’s historic gift of $100 million.

Continuing Transformational Research and Societal Progress

The Gatton Endowed Chairs aim to advance Kentucky through transformational research, extension efforts, and programming that address agricultural and societal challenges, thereby promoting the college’s land-grant mission.

Gatton Foundation Endowed Chairs: Culminating in Exceptional Research

Gustafson’s Approach to Community Health

Alison Gustafson, a professor in the Martin-Gatton CAFE Department of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, focuses on the development and expansion of Food as Health Alliance — a program designed to strengthen connections among healthcare providers, insurance, community organizations, agriculture, and nutrition for a seamless system. It develops an infrastructure for enrollment, screening, evaluation, and dissemination of key findings.

Further, the program supports healthcare providers to connect patients with diet-sensitive health outcomes and at risk of food insecurity with essential services. The alliance also facilitates partner development and community service expansion. It propels the creation of a hub, linking all patients to necessary services irrespective of their geographical location.

Messer’s Trailblazing Work in Water Quality

Tiffany Messer, an associate professor of biosystems and agricultural engineering, aims to lessen gaps related to water-quality through her chairship. The encompassing research contains three broad tracks:

1. Student training and success
2. Water-quality needs assessments
3. Low-cost water-quality treatment options.

The first track expands an outreach initiative, bringing four high school environmental science, biology, and agriculture classes in Kentucky under one roof for knowledge exchange and hands-on learning. Among other points, the track includes a comprehensive data assessment to identify areas in Kentucky known for gaps and contaminants in the water.

The program’s proposals aim to have long-lasting effects on water-quality monitoring and health data collection, focusing on sustainable water management, water-quality treatment, identification, and tracing of complex water-quality mixtures in Kentucky.

Alison Gustafson and Tiffany Messer: A Profile

Alison Gustafson serves as the director of the Food as Health Alliance, working to combine clinical research and community engagement to address the intertwined challenges of food insecurity and chronic diet-related diseases prevalent in Kentucky.

Tiffany Messer’s research lies at the intersection of engineering, ecology, and agriculture, focusing particularly on environmental biogeochemistry and the management of water resources in human-impacted ecosystems.

Moving Forward

The Martin-Gatton CAFE continues to offer over 500 unique awards, funding student scholarships, research, facilities, innovative projects, and more, hoping to improve lives and build a sustainable future. The appointment of Gustafson and Messer as Gatton Foundation Endowed Chairs signifies a big step in this direction, ultimately advancing the state of Kentucky through their promising research.