Despite the continued challenges in securing National Institutes of Health (NIH) research support in fiscal year 2014 – including sequestration and lower grant application success rates – the University of Vermont College of Medicine was fortunate to secure $81.4 million in grant funding in fiscal year 2014 (FY14), which ran from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014. That figure was significantly more than one half and nearly two-thirds of the total $128.04 million in funding received by the entire University of Vermont and represents a total of 280 awards to faculty at the College of Medicine.
Among the top three FY14 grant recipients at the College of Medicine were Stephen Higgins, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and psychology, Judith Shaw, Ed.D., M.P.H., R.N., research associate professor of pediatrics and nursing, and Kenneth Mann, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry emeritus.
Higgins, who directs a Center – the Vermont Center on Behavior of Health (VCBH) – funded by one of several awards in 2013-2014, received notice of more than $34.7 million in funding during a single week in FY14. In addition to conducting multiple research studies, the VCBH hosts an annual conference and lecture series. Read more about some of Higgins’ FY14 research grants here.
Projects led by Shaw, the executive director of the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program (VCHIP) in the Department of Pediatrics, involve collaborative quality improvement initiatives and public and private partnerships focused on improving children’s health. VCHIP’s work is consistently funded through multiple grants managed by the State of Vermont Agency of Human Services. Read more about Shaw’s highly-regarded work here.
Among several FY14 awards received by Mann, who holds a number of patents and specializes in blood-clotting disorders research, is a trans-agency multi-center study on a deadly bleeding syndrome that occurs following trauma. Find out more about the study here.
The NIH actual appropriation of $29.1 billion in FY13 (October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013) rose slightly to $30.1 billion in FY14. The current FY15 President’s Budget totals $30.3 billion.
Read more about research at the UVM College of Medicine.