September 9, 2019
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Research funding to The Ohio State University College of Medicine grew by $50 million during the 2019 fiscal year to $268.5 million.
“Research and the funding that supports it accelerates the discovery of new therapies and treatments to improve health and save lives,” said Dr. K. Craig Kent, dean of The Ohio State University College of Medicine. “Our comprehensive ‘bedside to bench to bedside’ approach allows our researchers to turn their novel ideas into tomorrow’s groundbreaking cures.”
In fiscal year 2019, the College of Medicine received $163.6 million in grants, contracts and subcontracts from the National Institutes of Health, a 38.1% increase in research funding for the college. Awards included a $65.9 million, four-year HEALing Communities Study grant to fund an Ohio State University-lead consortium of academic, state and community partners to address the opioid epidemic. The additional funding came from a number of governmental agencies, non-profit foundations and industry contracts.
“An emphasis of our strategic plan is to diversify our funding portfolio to address the complexity of research questions at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center,” said Peter Mohler, vice dean of research at the College of Medicine and director of the Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute. “While it’s critical that we focus on very fundamental scientific questions at the molecular and cellular level, it’s just as critical that we translate these findings into healthcare solutions at the patient and population level. Today, our research teams are creating solutions that impact patients all around the world. It’s an exciting time to be a scientist at Ohio State.”
The increase in medical research funding is partly attributed to an intentional focus on expanding existing scientific programs in cancer and cardiovascular disease as well as establishing new programs in important areas such as addiction, neuroscience, immunology and diabetes.
“Ohio State has an exceptional group of talented faculty, staff and trainees and we are recruiting the best and brightest in academic medicine,” Kent said.
Mohler added, “We are fortunate to have the opportunity to work with incredible talent from other colleges across the university to tackle complex medical and societal issues.”
In addition to pioneering new biomedical discoveries, the College of Medicine’s research funding benefits the Ohio economy through research and administrative jobs, the purchase of products and services used in Ohio State labs and through launching new startup businesses.
###
Media Contact: Serena Smith, Wexner Medical Center Public Affairs and Media Relations, 614-293-3737, Serena.Smith@osumc.edu