Welcome to the Generation Health Research Study

Henry Ford Health research scientists are exploring how a mother's past living environment could predict their child’s health now and in the future.

The Goal of the Generation Health Research Study

The goal of our study is to determine how the characteristics of the neighborhood where mom grew up influence her child’s health – even as an adult. In other words, can we predict a child’s adult health by learning about Mom’s experiences and exposures during her life?

Where you Live Affects your Health

Even within the Metropolitan Detroit area, different neighborhoods have features that support or challenge our health. We will look at air and soil pollution, walkability, access to healthy foods, green spaces, early childhood education centers, the high school graduation rate, and more.

Your Child’s Blood Spots are in Storage

You might remember that medical staff pricked your child’s heel before they left the hospital. This is the blood sample that is stored at the Michigan BioTrust for Health Program. With Mom’s permission, our team accesses your child’s blood sample, which continues to be stored at the Michigan BioTrust for Health program. We use only a small amount of the sample and techniques called metabolomics (pronounced: met-tab-oh-low-micks) to look for certain signals in the child’s blood spot. These signals may indicate a higher or lower probability of the child developing chronic disease in adulthood, like high blood pressure, diabetes and asthma.

How to Participate

Everything is done from your home. There are no clinic or hospital visits and we do not collect an additional blood sample from your child. If you are eligible:

• You’ll provide permission for a member of our team to access your child’s bloodspots by completing a consent form.
• Then, you’ll fill out a questionnaire online that asks about where you (Mom) have lived since you were born and about your childhood experiences. It takes 20 to 60 minutes to complete the questionnaire online, Or, you can choose to answer the questionnaire over the phone with a member of our study team. or over the phone with a member of our study team.
• If Mom would like to give us a blood sample for additional payment and to enhance our study results, we will send a kit to your home. You’ll prick your finger and mail the kit back to us at no cost to you. We will include instructions on how to mail the kit back to us.

Payment for Participating

We will pay you $75 when the consent form is signed signed and the questionnaire is completed and submitted. An additional $25 is paid to mothers who provide their blood sample using the home finger prick kit. Payment will be provided on a ClinCard. It is like a debit card and can be used most anywhere.

See our Frequently Asked Questions for More Information

Please check out our FAQs to learn more.
If you have additional questions about the Generation Health Research Study, email us at healthofinfants@hfhs.org or call the Study Coordinator, Araba Gyan, MPH, at (313) 874-3659.