UNC research funding will be spent on Alzheimer’s, maternal health and more.

HEALTH

What do you do with a billion dollars?

If you’re the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the money comes in as research grants, you spend it in multiple ways: researching liquid fuels, cancer, and Alzheimer’s, spotting warning signs of a maternal health crisis in pregnancy, and creating healthier worldwide food systems.

Fifteen years ago, UNC received $716,274,113 in research awards. The numbers have been steadily rising since 2009. UNC says fiscal year 2024 is the fifth year in a row that awards from federal agencies, industry/university partnerships, and nonprofits have topped $1 billion. The initial billion-dollar award level in FY 2020 was partly due to a rush of government funding for COVID-19-Related research.

Vice Chancellor for Research Penny Gordon-Larsen says online that COVID research is no longer a major driver with the pandemic over. Other sponsorships and research grants have taken its place, however. Gordon-Larsen said UNC’s “interdisciplinary, collaborative approach” to research helps attract funding. That funding, mostly from out-of-state sources, pumps up the state’s economy. UNC-Chapel Hill’s research work employs more than 10,700 North Carolinians in research spread out in 100 counties, supporting 3,200 private businesses.

Who’s giving the money?

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded the most funding for FY 2024, $592 million. That includes:

$49 million from NIH’s Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for its Data Stage Coordinating Center.
$19 million to UNC’s Department of Genetics.
NIH’s Institute on Aging funded two studies on Alzheimer’s and dementia totaling $11.3 million.
$7 million to the Linebarger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
$5.2 million for the Collaboratory of AIDS Researchers for Eradication, which is working to eliminate HIV.

Other parts of the federal government have awarded grants, too. Health and Human Services is contributing $60 million; the National Science Foundation is contributing $40 million; the Department of Education is contributing $23 million; and the Defense Department is contributing $21 million.

The Department of Energy has awarded $6.8 million to the UNC Department of Chemistry’s Center for Hybrid Approaches to Solar Energy for Liquid Fuels (CHASE). The center researches using sunlight to generate liquid fuels from carbon dioxide and water.

The Department of Agriculture awarded $5 million to the Department of Maternal and Child Health. The project involves recognizing and addressing maternal warning signs of health problems during pregnancy and right after the baby is born.

Other research grants and funding comes from private organizations. The Bloomberg Family Foundation awarded the Carolina Population Center $19 million for the UNC Global Food Research Program, which works to reduce diet-related disparities and create a more healthful food system and food environment.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded $5.45 million to the Division of Global Women’s Health within the School of Medicine. This group of clinicians, researchers, and public health professionals works to improve women’s health in impoverished countries.

Money goes to UNC departments other than medicine. UNC says money has been awarded to the Hussman School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the Kenan-Flagler Business School, the School of Social Work and the School of Information and Library Science.

Awards vs Expenditures

Research awards and research expenditures are two standard measurements for evaluating universities’ research activities. UNC’s awards for FY 2024 represent new research grants and contracts. They’re important because many grants represent long-term projects that will receive continued funding for several years.

The research expenditures for 2024 are another matter. They’re an after-the-fact measure of how much UNC spent on research, and they’re not calculated until the end of the fiscal year. The dollar volume of research expenditures helps determine national rankings of research universities.

Fraser Sherman has worked for newspapers, including the Destin Log, the Pensacola News-Journal and the Raleigh Public Record. Born in England, he’d still live in Florida if he hadn’t met the perfect woman and moved to Durham to marry her. He’s the author of several film reference books and has published one novel and several short story collections.
This reporter can be reached at Info@TheLocalReporter.press