Outside support for Wake Forest University School of Medicine - mostly for research and related activities - jumped by 19 percent in the fiscal year that ended June 30, increasing by nearly $14 million.
Total support went from $73.8 million to $87.7 million and continued a sharp upward trend that began more than a decade ago. The totals are for all outside funding, including demonstration and service projects, research fellowships, and two federal grants that will be used to finish two floors of the Center for Research on Human Nutrition and Chronic Disease Prevention.
When just research projects alone are considered, the total went from nearly $66 million to $77.8 million, nearly an 18 percent increase. (Just 10 years ago, funding for research projects was $32.8 million; 20 years ago, the total was just over $5.8 million.)
Another comparison: this year, there were 844 awards, which includes individual research awards, research centers, multidisciplinary program projects and fellowships. Last year, there were 823 grants; ten years ago, 435.
"The Wake Forest University School of Medicine has, over the past ten years, created an environment that nurtures and promotes creativity," said Jay Moskowitz, Ph.D, senior associate dean (science and technology). "Our faculty are addressing scientific opportunities and challenges with vigor and dedication.
"This combination has established a "research engine" that will continue to produce biomedical discoveries, and a wealth of new knowledge that will benefit every man, woman, and child alive today."
The biggest increases in the fiscal year came in federal grants, up by more than $10 million, and in support from voluntary health agencies and foundations, up by nearly $3.9 million.
Demonstration and service grants, mostly for running state-sponsored programs, increased by 27.7 percent, from $7.8 million to $9.9 million. Most of these projects are pediatric specialty clinics or training programs operated by the Northwest Area Health Education Center, which serves most counties in northwest North Carolina.
Among medical school departments, Public Health Sciences, with $13.9 million in awards, brought in the most research money. Internal Medicine was second, with grants totaling $12.5 million. Other top departments included Physiology and Pharmacology, nearly $8 million, Neurology, $7.8 million, and Pathology (including Comparative Medicine, $6.4 million.
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