The University of Nebraska Medical Center received fourth quarter grant
awards totaling $15 million bringing the year-end total to $50.8 million
its best year ever. The $50 million milestone represents a 23 percent
increase in funding over last years $41.3 million total.
There are three key contributing factors for the universitys outstanding
performance last year, said Thomas Rosenquist, Ph.D., vice chancellor
for research. First, based in large part upon the excellent leadership
of Dr. Ken Cowan, Dr. John Gollan, Dr. Carl Camras, Dr. Bruce Buehler and
Dr. Byers Shaw, we have increased our ability to strategically recruit
well-funded investigators. Second, we have increased success by UNMC investigators
in winning larger grants, especially multi-disciplinary program-type grants.
Third, we have improved our infrastructure permitting new and exciting
kinds of research for example, the production and use of genetically
modified mice in the UNMC Transgenic Mouse facility headed by Dr. Michael
Salbaum.
Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., is director of the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center;
John Gollan, M.D is chairman of the UNMC College of Medicine internal medicine
department; Carl Camras, M.D., is professor and chairman of the department
of ophthalmology; Byers Shaw, M.D., is professor and chairman of the department
of surgery; Bruce Buehler, M.D. is director of the Munroe-Meyer Institute
and chairman of the department of pediatrics; and Michael Salbaum, Ph.D.,
is a scientist at the Munroe-Meyer Institutes Hattie B. Munroe Center
for Human Molecular Genetics.
Dr. Rosenquist said UNMCs record-breaking year owes much to the strategic
contributions of Howard Gendelman, M.D., director of the Center for Neurovirology
and Neurodegenerative Diseases (CNND), whose department realized explosive
growth in funding from the National Institutes of Health (from $1.38 million
in FY 2001 to $3.6 million in FY 2002); and James Turpen, Ph.D., professor
and interim chairman of genetics, cell biology and anatomy, principal investigator
for a NIH grant that is $2 million per year and expected to increase to
$3 million per year in 2003.
The department of genetics, cell biology and anatomy is the College
of Medicines most successful department in NIH funding, now ranked 32nd
nationally out of
124 medical centers. No other UNMC College of Medicine department is
ranked this high. This department is tied in national rankings with
Yale University and is ranked higher than its counterparts at such major
research universities as the University of Oregon, University of Wisconsin,
Emory University, University of Alabama-Birmingham and University of Southern
California.
Dr. Rosenquist said that the universitys $50 million milestone means
its half way to $100 million in annual research funding. He also believes
UNMC can reach the $100 million benchmark in three more years.
As good as it feels to surpass $50 million in research funding, the
more important goal is $100 million, Dr. Rosenquist said. That is the
point at which a medical center has achieved a durable momentum that helps
assure continuing research funding success. At our current rate of
growth, UNMC should meet the $100 million goal in 2005.
The completion of the Research Center of Excellence in the fall of
2003 will be a tremendous boost to our research growth momentum.
We also have a critical need for continued access to the tobacco settlement
funds funds that permitted a number of strategic faculty recruitments.
The fourth quarter represents the months of April, May and June.
The following investigators are some of those who received grants of $100,000
or more during the fourth quarter:
· Michael (Tony) Hollingsworth, Ph.D., professor at the UNMC
Eppley Cancer Center, received $1.5 million for research on gastrointestinal
cancer;
· Nancy Waltman, Ph.D., associate professor in the UNMC College
of Nursing-Lincoln division, received $644,478 for research on prevention
of osteoporosis in breast cancer survivors;
· Susan Walker, Ed.D., professor and chairperson of the department
of gerontological, psychosocial and community health nursing in the College
of Nursing, received $413,818 for research on promoting healthy eating
and activity in rural women;
· Dr. Gendelman, received $366,705; and CNND investigators Yuri
Persidsky, M.D., Ph.D., Jialin Zheng, M.D., Anuja Ghorpade, Ph.D. and Huangui
Xiong, M.D., Ph.D., also assistant professors in the department of pathology
and microbiology, received $294,250, $257,323, $209,653, and $184,375,
respectively, for research on HIV-related dementia.