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Emory University Continues Rapid Growth In Research Funding In 2003
Emory University continued its rapid trajectory of research growth in
the 2003 fiscal year, receiving a total of $319.1 million in sponsored
research funding. This represents an increase of $38 million, or 14
percent, over research funding in FY02. During the past five years sponsored
research funding at Emory has grown by more than 93 percent, making
it one of the fastest growing research universities in the nation. Federal
funding was responsible for more than 75 percent of the FY03 total,
with funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) making up
61 percent of the total.
The Woodruff Health Sciences Center received $295.5 million, more than
92 percent of the university total and a greater than 16 percent increase
over FY02 funding. According to the Office of Sponsored Programs, research
funding in the Rollins School of Public Health ($45.1 million) grew
by 24 percent in FY03, funding in the School of Medicine ($204 million)
grew by 17 percent, and funding in the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School
of Nursing ($3.3 million) grew by 26 percent. Research funding for Yerkes
National Primate Research Center was $43 million, an increase of 5 percent.
Federal money was responsible for 76 percent of Health Sciences Center
funding, with money from the NIH making up 65 percent of the total.
"It is a significant and notable fact that Emory scientists have won
these research funds competitively, on a national basis, even within
these difficult fiscal times," says Frank Stout, vice president for
research at Emory. "These are dollars that have been brought into Georgia
through the intellectual capability of our faculty, and these funds
will provide additional support for the state's economy."
The top 10 departments within the university for funded research in
FY03 were the departments of medicine, neurology, psychiatry, behavioral
sciences and health education, pathology and laboratory medicine, surgery,
pediatrics, epidemiology, Yerkes National Primate Research Center division
of administration, and Yerkes Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
Collaborative research with other universities and interdisciplinary
research within the university were hallmarks of the year's funding.
Research in vaccines, immunology, emerging infections and biodefense
garnered substantial research dollars, including continuing development
of HIV/AIDS vaccines within Yerkes National Primate Research Center,
the Emory Vaccine Center, and the microbiology and immunology department
in the School of Medicine. Following years of federally funded research,
an HIV vaccine developed at Emory and the NIH entered human clinical
trials early in 2003.
Emory received funding this year from the National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases as a member of four new research consortia:
a Regional Center of Excellence for Emerging Infections and Biodefense
led by Duke University; an Emory-led Cooperative Center for Translational
Research on Human Immunology and Biodefense; a consortium led by the
University of Alabama-Birmingham to develop a new class of HIV vaccines;
and a collaborative project led by Novavax Inc. to develop HIV vaccines.
Emory's Winship Cancer Institute was awarded nearly $2 million through
a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Planning Grant--a critical first step
in attaining designation as an NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center. Winship
also received a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense
Prostate Cancer Research Program to develop a consortium of 13 universities
working to identify entirely new therapeutic targets and concepts for
effective treatment of advanced prostate cancer.
The NIH awarded the Emory Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) more than
$7.3 million in a renewal of its CFAR status.
Lung disease research received substantial funding in FY03, with $10
million from the NIH for two separate projects, one studying the effects
of alcohol abuse on lung disease, and a multi-institutional investigation
aimed at improving lung cancer detection in smokers. Researchers at
the School of Public Health received $3 million from the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation as part of funding for the Tobacco Technical Assistance
Consortium to assist states and communities in reducing tobacco use.
R
esearch funding in Emory College was $16.8 million in FY03. The Center
for Fundamental and Applied Molecular Evolution (FAME), a joint initiative
with the Georgia Institute of Technology housed at Emory, received $600,000
in funding, partly from the National Science Foundation. FAME scientists
study evolutionary principles and their application to the synthesis
of novel molecules and materials. The interdisciplinary center focuses
on fundamental questions at the interface between chemistry, biology
and physics.
A sampling of numerous other funded projects includes: $2.2 million
to the Candler School of Theology for its Youth Theological Initiative;
$5 million for a School of Medicine collaboration with the Medical University
of South Carolina and community clinicians for a Specialized Center
of Research on Sex and Gender Factors Affecting Women's Health; $1.5
million to the School of Public Health for an Interfaith Health Program
designed to promote community health in seven states; $5 million from
the Helene Fuld Health Trust to the nursing school for endowment support
of an innovative program to increase the nation's supply of university-trained
nurse leaders; and $2.6 million for an interdisciplinary Digestive Diseases
Research Center in the School of Medicine.
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