October 07, 2009 — The federal fiscal year closed last week with a flurry of notices announcing $23.6 million more in stimulus grants for Miller School faculty, swelling the number of awards to 48 and the grand total of research funds to $40.5 million.
Holding out new promise for breakthroughs in everything from genetics to diabetic foot ulcers, Miller School faculty account for the lion's share of the overall $66.5 million the University has raked in to date under the auspices of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The act, which provided $8.2 billion for research priorities of the National Institutes of Health, generated 382 requests for $312.6 million from Miller School researchers alone. Of the 48 grants awarded so far, 11 came in two new, highly competitive categories, Grand Opportunities (GO) and Challenge Grants. That's no small feat considering that applications for Challenge Grants alone surpassed 20,000, a record for the NIH.
"Our faculty did an incredible job responding to the new Challenge and GO competitions from NIH," said Richard Bookman, Ph.D., vice provost for research and executive dean for research and research training. "Now, we know most of the results from peer review and the results are fantastic! Six faculty got Challenge grants and five of our GO projects have been funded so far. These awards, against incredible national competition, are a real credit to the innovative ideas and scientific track records of our faculty."
The Miller School's Lisa Metsch, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology and public health, received the largest amount – $12.3 million over two years. Shared with the San Francisco Department of Health, the grant will be used to study the effectiveness of HIV prevention counseling by following 5,000 patients at nine clinics in Washington, D.C., and six states for sexually transmitted diseases, a population at high risk for HIV infection.
"We are pleased to be part of such an important public health investigation," said Metsch, who will lead the scientific team at the Miller School with Grant Colfax, M.D., of the San Francisco Department of Health. "Our work should be able to help settle the public health debate about whether to offer counseling for patients undergoing HIV screening."
Metsch's grant, which builds on a current multi-center study on HIV testing and counseling at substance abuse centers, meets the recovery act goals of stimulating the economy by creating or saving about 100 jobs at public health clinics and research centers.
Other GO or Challenge grant recipients include:
• Margaret Byrne, Ph.D., research assistant professor of epidemiology and public health, who received $941,593 over two years for "A Targeted Decision Aid to Improve Minority Participation in Clinical Trials."• W. Dalton Dietrich, Ph.D., scientific director of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, who was awarded $903,771 over two years for "Efficacy of Necrostatins on Posttraumatic Epilepsy."
• Jeffrey Goldberg, M.D., assistant professor of ophthalmology and of neurosciences, who received $764,972 over two years for "Retinal Scaffolds: Synaptic and Stem Cell Integration."
• David Loewenstein, Ph.D., professor of neuropsychology, who received $948,9330 over two years for "Exercise Vs. Cognitive Interventions for Elders at Risk for Dementia."
• Eden Martin, Ph.D., director of the Center for Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, who received $1 million over two years for "Statistical Methods for Next-Gen Sequencing in Disease Association Models."
• Mark Pegram, M.D., director for clinical and translational research, Braman Family Breast Cancer Institute at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Richard Cote, M.D., professor and chairman of pathology, who received $996,077 over two years for "Molecular Analysis of NeoAdjuvant Platinum in Triple Negative Breast Cancer."
• Ana Palacio, M.D., assistant professor of clinical medicine, who was awarded $947,328 over two years for "Improving Adherence to Post PCI Antiplatelet Therapy in Minority Populations."
• Stephan Schurer, Ph.D., research assistant professor of molecular and cellular pharmacology, and Vance Lemmon, Ph.D., professor and Walter G. Ross Chair of Developmental Neuroscience, who received $1,510,121 over two years for "Bioassay Ontology and Software Tools to Integrate and Analyze Diverse Data Sets."
• Jose Szapocznik, Ph.D., chair of epidemiology and public health and director of the Center for Family Studies, who was awarded $1,350,523 over two years for "Brief Strategic Family Therapy versus Treatment as Usual: Extended Follow-up."
• Marjana Tomic-Canic, Ph.D., professor of dermatology, who was awarded $902,641 for "Development of the Cellular Biomarker for Diabetic Foot Ulcers."
