Strong Fourth Quarter Propels UNMC’s Annual Grant Awards Total to Historic $68 Million

University of Nebraska Medical Center researchers ended the 2003-04 fiscal year with a record-setting annual total of $68 million in new research awards, bringing in $17.6 million in federal research grants during the fourth quarter (April, May, June).

“This has been an extraordinary year for research at UNMC,” said Thomas Rosenquist, Ph.D., vice chancellor for research. “I can’t recall another year in which so many of our researchers were awarded multi-million dollar grants in double- or near double-digits from the National Institutes of Health.

“The commitment of our investigative teams to take on ever greater challenges, revamped laboratory facilities for numerous researchers, and the spirit of collaboration that is the hallmark of research at UNMC are critically massing to not only bring about more grant awards, but also grant awards of historic amounts.”

In September 2003, UNMC received grants of $10.6 million (Shelley Smith, Ph.D., director of the UNMC Center for Molecular Genetics, principal investigator) and $9.9 million (Margaret Wheelock, Ph.D., professor of oral biology, College of Dentistry, principal investigator). Dr. Smith’s grant was the largest single grant in UNMC history until August 2004 when UNMC received a grant totaling $16.9 million from the NIH (James Turpen, Ph.D., professor in the department of genetics, cell biology and anatomy, principal investigator).

Irving Zucker, Ph.D., Theodore F. Hubbard Professor of Cardiovascular Research and chairman of the department of cellular and integrative physiology, noted that when he arrived on campus in 1972, few NIH grants had been awarded to UNMC’s basic science departments and almost none to the clinical departments.

“There were no core facilities and the emphasis was primarily on teaching,” said Dr. Zucker, who has received more than $13.7 million in NIH grant awards. “The major change came about because the administration encouraged and provided incentives for faculty to engage in research. In addition, strategic recruitments were made that created several research groups that subsequently made a national reputation for those groups and UNMC.

“A defining moment in my own career came under Dr. Harold Maurer (UNMC chancellor), while he was dean of the College of Medicine. It had taken me 10 years to put together a group that could be successful at achieving program project grant funding. Dr. Maurer was instrumental in making $100,000 available to me in order to acquire the necessary preliminary data we needed to become successful.”

Dr. Zucker makes it clear that the pursuit of academic excellence at UNMC must include the acquisition of grant funding and publishing the results of funded research.

“Investigators, by definition, are self-motivators – the answers to their questions posed should be all the encouragement one needs,” Dr. Zucker said. “However, faculty should not be complacent following the acquisition of one grant. They should strive to acquire multiple grants and cover as much of their salary as possible. Larger program project grants are one way to do this. We have come to a point where funds must be channeled into recruitment of groups of investigators in specific areas with the hope that these groups will become self-sustaining within a short period of time.”

Jeffrey Payne, D.D.S., associate dean for research and F. Gene and Rosemary Dixon Endowed Chair in Dentistry in the College of Dentistry, is a relative new kid on the research block compared to Dr. Zucker. Dr. Payne has been with UNMC since 1991 and in a specialty that wasn’t known for drawing the kinds of significant grant awards seen in such research areas, for example, as cancer or cardiovascular and neurological diseases. Yet, today UNMC’s College of Dentistry is listed among the top 20 dental schools in the United States in NIH funding.

“When I arrived at the College of Dentistry, there was extremely limited laboratory space and clinical research space and few faculty members were pursuing extramural grants,” said Dr. Payne, who received a $600,000 grant award from the NIH in June. “However, the department of periodontics had a national reputation because several faculty members had extramural research grants. I joined UNMC because of the research strength in our department and the promise of future research growth at the College of Dentistry.”

Dr. Payne said one of the keys to research growth at the College of Dentistry was completion of the Cruzan Center for Dental Research in 1998. “We finally had the research infrastructure to recruit more world-class scientists,” he said. “ That was also the year Dr. Maurer was appointed chancellor. His directive was that research was to be an integral part of UNMC’s mission and every college was going to have to contribute to UNMC’s research environment. Because of his support, and that of Dr. Rosenquist, we have been able to offer competitive start-up packages to new faculty and provide state-of-the-art equipment to other faculty who received substantial NIH funding.

“Receiving the F. Gene and Rosemary Dixon Endowed Chair in Dentistry in 2001 was a defining moment for me. Few dental schools in the United States have such endowments. My outlook on the future of research at UNMC is so positive because of strong institutional and alumni support. Without alumni support, we wouldn’t have the Cruzan Center or the Dixon Endowed Chair and a number of student research fellowships. I feel proud of what UNMC has accomplished and look forward to more successes in the future.