Miller School of Medicine Rises in NIH Research Grant Funding
The Miller School of Medicine received $120.7 million in research grants from the National Institutes of Health in Federal Fiscal Year 2017 — a $9.5 million increase over the school’s FFY 2016 total.
The Miller School is the No. 1 NIH-funded institution in Florida.
According to the national rankings of medical schools based on data compiled by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, that total made the Miller School the No. 1 NIH-funded institution in Florida, ranking No. 41 among 141 institutions nationally. It also put the Miller School $19 million and six ranking places above the next-highest Florida medical school in terms of NIH funding.
In addition, based on the NIH funding data, 11 of the Miller School’s departments rose in their respective rankings, and 19 faculty members ranked in the top 10 percent of their field.
“Our continued rise in NIH funding represents wonderful recognition of the important research being conducted at the Miller School,” said Edward Abraham, M.D., executive vice president for health affairs, CEO of UHealth, and dean and chief academic officer of the Miller School. “NIH grants are vital for advancing research that leads to a greater understanding of a wide variety of diseases and public health issues.”
“We recently developed a dynamic new strategic plan for research for the Miller School that focuses on several key areas in which we are already far ahead of most institutions,” said Carl Schulman, M.D., Ph.D., M.S.P.H., professor of surgery and executive dean for research. “We expect this targeted approach to yield positive results, both in the laboratory and in translating the findings into improved patient outcomes.”
Thirteen of the Miller School’s departments made funding gains, with 11 moving up in the rankings of NIH funding and two holding their position.
Three departments ranked in the top 10 nationally against their peers: Neurological Surgery (No. 4), Human Genetics (No. 7), and Ophthalmology (No. 9).
Other departments that moved up were, in order: Surgery (up 11 places, to No. 16), Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery (up 7 places, to No. 21), Microbiology and Immunology (up 14 places, to No. 26), Medicine (up 2 places, to No. 51), Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology (up 6 places, to No. 52), Cell Biology (up 2 places, to No. 55), Physiology and Biophysics (up 4 places, to No. 59), and Pediatrics (up 7 places, to No. 72). Departments holding their position were Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (No. 25) and Radiation Oncology (No. 37).
Two additional departments ranked in the top 20 in their field: Public Health Sciences (No. 14) and Otolaryngology (No. 15). Other rankings included Neurology (No. 22), Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (No. 46), Anesthesiology (No. 47), and Pathology (No. 48).
More than 30 faculty members received more than $1 million in funding, with 19 ranked in the top 10 percent in their academic field.
Margaret A. Pericak-Vance, Ph.D., director of the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics and the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Professor of Human Genetics, was the school’s highest NIH-funded researcher, with $12.6 million in awards, ¬which earned her the No. 3 spot in a national field of 670, in the top 0.3 percent of her specialty.
Other researchers in the top 10 percent of their field were:
• Stephan Züchner, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Department of Human Genetics and co-director of the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, $5.06 million
• Savita Pahwa, M.D., professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology, and director of the Miami Center for AIDS Research, $3.59 million
• Ralph L. Sacco, M.D., M.S., professor and chairman of Neurology and Olemberg Family Chair in Neurological Disorders, $3.38 million
• Sara J. Czaja, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, $3.22 million
• Margaret A. Fischl, M.D., professor of medicine, director of the HIV/AIDS Clinical Research Unit, and co-director of the Miami Center for AIDS Research, $2.83 million
• José Szapocznik, Ph.D., professor and chair emeritus of Public Health Sciences, $2.68 million
• Alberto Pugliese, M.D., professor of medicine, and microbiology and immunology, and J. Enloe and Eugenia J. Dodson Chair in Diabetes Research, $2.28 million
• Michael Benatar, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurology, $2.15 million
• Sabita Roy, Ph.D., professor of surgery, $2.04 million
• Paolo Serafini, Ph.D., assistant research professor of microbiology and immunology, $1.96 million
• Ramin Shiekhattar, Ph.D., professor of human genetics, $1.93 million
• John R. Guy, M.D., professor of ophthalmology and the Rogers Research Chair in Ophthalmology, $1.91 million
• Adina Zeki Al Hazzouri, Ph.D., assistant professor of public health sciences, $1.83 million
• Wei Li, Ph.D., research associate professor of cell biology, $1.76 million
• Michal Toborek, M.D., Ph.D., Leonard M. Miller Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and vice chair for research in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, $1.69 million
• Joshua M. Hare, M.D., the Louis Lemberg Professor of Medicine and founding director of the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, $1.64 million
• Ronald C. Desrosiers, Ph.D., professor of pathology, $1.64 million
• Mario Stevenson, Ph.D., professor of medicine, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and director of the HIV/AIDS Institute, $1.47 million
Additional researchers who received more than $1 million in funding were:
• David I. Watkins, Ph.D., professor of pathology, $1.28 million
• Mustafa Tekin, M.D., professor in the Dr. John T. MacDonald Foundation Department of Human Genetics, $1.26 million
• Kevin Park, Ph.D., associate professor of neurological surgery, $1.25 million
• Xue Z. Liu, M.D., professor of otolaryngology, $1.23 million
• W. Dalton Dietrich, Ph.D., scientific director of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and Kinetic Concepts Distinguished Chair in Neurosurgery, senior associate dean for discovery science, and professor of neurological surgery, neurology and cell biology, $1.22 million
• Enrique A. Mesri, Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology and immunology, $1.21 million
• Deborah Lynne Jones, Ph.D., M.Ed., research professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and co-chair of mentoring for the development core at the Center for AIDS Research, $1.19 million
• Eli Gilboa, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and immunology, and director of the Dodson Interdisciplinary Immunotherapy Institute, $1.18 million
• Guillermo J. “Willy” Prado, Ph.D., Miller Professor of Public Health Sciences, director of the Division of Prevention Science and Community Health, and dean of the Graduate School, $1.16 million
• Jacob L. McCauley, Ph.D., associate professor of human genetics, associate professor of pathology, and director of the Center for Genome Technology and its Biorepository Core Facility at the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, $1.09 million
• Shaun Brothers, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, $1.07 million
• Carlos T. Moraes, Ph.D., Lichtenstein Professor of Neurology, Cell Biology and Anatomy, $1.01 million
Tags: Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, Miller School of Medicine, NIH funding