CHAPEL HILL – The UNC School of Medicine’s total research funding reached $623.8 million this past fiscal year, from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, a growth of nearly $39.8 million from fiscal year 2021. The UNC School of Medicine surpassed the $500 million milestone in fiscal year 2019.
“Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, research teams across the school of medicine have continued their determined pursuit of knowledge across nearly every field of inquiry in the biomedical sciences,” said Blossom Damania, PhD, Vice Dean for Research at the UNC School of Medicine. “And many of our researchers –both basic science and clinical- – remain committed to many facets of scientific discovery related to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Approximately $100 million of our total funding this past year was COVID-19 related research.”
Research funding for the School of Medicine has grown steadily over the last several years, increasing by more than $175.9 million over the past five years since fiscal year 2017. The UNC School of Medicine accounts for more than half of all research funding at UNC-Chapel Hill, which surpassed the billion-dollar milestone in 2020.
Although the National Institutes of Health funds more than half of UNC School of Medicine, the school of medicine also receives research funding from the state of North Carolina, for example through the NC Collaborative, and from other public funding agencies, such as the Department of Defense, National Science Foundation etc. Furthermore, many private foundations and non-profit organizations fund research at the School of Medicine and across UNC-Chapel Hill.
“We cannot express enough our deep gratitude to the faculty, staff, students, postdocs, residents, and fellows who work so hard to advance biomedical science with the ultimate goal of improving human health,” Damania said. “The funding total is important, but it’s only a sign of the dedication and commitment we see day in and day out by our research community at UNC.”
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