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October 18 , 2004
Emory tops $351M in FY04 sponsored research funding

BY Holly Korschun

Emory researchers attracted $351.5 million in external research funding in fiscal year 2004, leading the state’s research institutions and increasing research awards by approximately 10 percent over fiscal year 2003.

Since 1999, sponsored research funding at Emory has grown by more than 71 percent. Federal funding was responsible for 71.8 percent of the total awards in FY04; grants and awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) made up 61.3 percent of total funding and 85.3 percent of Emory’s federal funding.

Of Emory’s sponsored-research dollars, the Woodruff Health Sciences Center (WHSC) received $328.9 million, or more than 93 percent. Federal funding was responsible for 71.3 percent of WHSC funding, with NIH accounting for 62.5 percent of the WHSC total and 87.7 percent of its federal dollars.

“This is a fantastic compliment to our faculty, schools and units, as well as our postdocs, fellows and students,” said Frank Stout, vice president for research. “It is a considerable achievement during a year in which the NIH budget grew by only 3.6 percent. Emory continues to make its name and science known around the nation and the world, which means we’ll continue to attract additional support.”

This impressive growth was not limited to the health sciences; research funding in Emory College grew by 19 percent in FY04 to $20.1 million, with the Department of Chemistry earning the most at $8.4 million. Research funding in the Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH) grew by 16 percent in FY04, and funding in the School of Medicine (SOM) grew by 10 percent.

The top 10 University departments for funded research in FY04 were medicine (SOM); behavioral sciences and health education (RSPH); psychiatry and behavioral sciences (SOM); pathology and laboratory medicine (SOM); microbiology and immunology (SOM); international health (RSPH); Winship Cancer Institute (SOM); surgery (SOM); the Emory Vaccine Center (Yerkes and SOM); and neurology (SOM).

Cancer research projects attracted funding for Emory scientists and their collaborative partners in Georgia and throughout the region. Using $10 million in NIH grants for cancer nanotechnology, scientists at Emory and Georgia Tech are establishing a bioengineering research partnership to develop nanoparticles for diagnosing and treating prostate cancer.

Winship Cancer Institute (WCI) scientists are leading a consortium of 13 universities from eight states, funded by a $10 million grant from the Department of Defense, to identify new therapeutic targets for treating advanced prostate cancer, and a $7.6 million National Cancer Institute grant to uncover the pathways of prostate cancer metastasis.

An Atlanta coalition of hospitals and universities led by WCI is using a $3.7 million NIH grant to address health disparities among minorities at the new Grady Center for the Reduction of Health Dispar-ities. The Rollins school, using $6.3 million in CDC funding and the support of the Georgia Cancer Coalition, has established a Cancer Prevention Research Center focused on Southwest Georgia.

Scientists at the vaccine center received an $18 million NIH grant as part of the AIDS vaccine development program for DNA-based HIV vaccines using viral vectors. A new Exploratory Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Vaccinology, part of the NIH “Roadmap” initiatives, combines key research centers throughout Emory and in partnership with Georgia Tech and the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle.

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