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Ohio State’s SOAR researchers ask budget support to sustain statewide mental‑health cohort
Summary
Dr. Luan Phan of Ohio State described the State of Ohio Adversity and Resilience (SOAR) study—a statewide cohort with more than 15,300 participants in a wellness discovery arm and more than 1,000 families in a deeper brain‑health study—and asked for budget support to follow the cohort over time and pursue federal and foundation grants.
Dr. Luan Phan, chair of psychiatry and the principal investigator for the State of Ohio Adversity and Resilience (SOAR) study at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, told the committee SOAR aims to identify modifiable risk and resilience factors for mental illness across Ohio’s 88 counties. Phan said SOAR has enrolled more than 15,300 Ohioans in its wellness discovery arm and over 1,000 families in a brain‑health study; the next phase seeks sustained funding to follow the cohort longitudinally.
Phan said SOAR is a statewide collaboration involving public universities and children’s hospitals and that more than half of SOAR funding goes to counties outside Franklin County. He told the committee the research team has applied for federal grants (he cited $37 million in grant submissions to date) and is pursuing foundation and private support, but that continuing state support is needed to preserve the cohort and enable repeated assessments to study change over time.
Phan provided committee members an interim SOAR report (October 2024) summarizing early findings and emphasized that longitudinal follow‑up is required to turn cross‑sectional signals into actionable policy recommendations.
No formal committee action followed. Committee staff may ask for budget‑language specifics, performance measures, and a plan for matching federal or philanthropic funding.
