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NC State's contribution to health and well-being spans many disciplines and scientific frontiers, from social work to biomedical engineering, and antiviral fabrics to stem cell research.  

Improving Health And Well-Being

NC State’s contribution to health and well-being spans many disciplines and scientific frontiers, from social work to biomedical engineering, and antiviral fabrics to stem cell research.

What we’ve done: 

•    The Center for Universal Design: The intent of universal design is to simplify life for everyone by making products, communications, and the built environment more usable by as many people as possible at little or no extra cost.  The center is a national research, information, and technical assistance center that evaluates, develops, and promotes accessible and universal design in housing, buildings, outdoor and urban environments and related products. The center's work manifests the belief that all new environments and products, to the greatest extent possible, should be usable by everyone regardless of their age, ability, or circumstance.

•    Food safety:  Food safety has been a central focus at NC State throughout its history.  The Food Animal Residue Avoidance Database (FARAD) is one of the most recent food safety efforts, but already has reached global proportions.  FARAD is a support system designed to provide information on how to avoid drug, pesticide and environmental contaminant residue problems. To ensure that the food products coming from animals are free from drug, pesticide or environmentally contaminated residue, nations across the globe have joined researchers at NC State and two other U.S. universities in an effort to provide livestock producers and veterinarians with information on how to keep dangerous residue out of the food supply.

•    One medicine:  Many diseases and medical conditions that affect animals also affect humans. Similarly, medical advances that help animals can also be beneficial to humans. That’s the underlying belief of the “one medicine” concept, which emphasizes the commonality between human and animal health. The formation of Center for Comparative Medicine and Translational Research (CCMTR) in 2006 strengthens the “one medicine” concept by bringing together research partners from several disciplines across NC State as well as industry partners.  Several colleges and departments are represented at the CCMTR, including biomedical engineering, biomedical textiles, mathematical modeling, nontraditional statistics, chemical engineering, and molecular modeling. This effort brings together faculty that speak different scientific languages but share the desire to deliver medical advances.

What we’ll do:

•    Centennial Biomedical Campus: Centennial Campus, home to more 130 corporate and government partners and academic units, emphasizes collaborations between the partners and the university to increase education and research opportunities for faculty and students.  Centennial Biomedical Campus will follow the same model, emphasizing partnerships and working to bring academia, government and industry together. The focus of the CBC is on biomedical applications, both to animals and humans.  This year, the university will break ground on two buildings on the CBC, which is anchored by the College of Veterinary Medicine, the Randall B. Terry Jr. Companion Animal Veterinary Medical Center and a “flex building” that could include office, classroom and lab space.

•    National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility: NBAF a state-of-the-art biological and agricultural research facility designed to protect the country's food supply and public health. The possibility of relocating the facility from its current location in Plum Island, N.Y., to North Carolina holds the economic development potential of more than $1 billion.  North Carolina is among five finalists for the facility.  NC State has led a statewide consortium throughout the relocation process.  NC State will continue to work with partners from across the state to encourage the Department of Homeland Security to bring the facility to North Carolina.

•    Faculty Hires: To support NC State’s overall commitment to health and well-being, the university will make “clusters hires” of approximately two dozen faculty.