SAN ANTONIO (January 20, 2012) — The urology department in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio topped its peers nationally in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding in 2011.
NIH funding for the department came to $9.1 million, excluding research and development contracts and federal stimulus money, according to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research. The second-highest-funded urology department in the nation was at the University of Southern California with $8.8 million in NIH grants.
NIH funding is the largest part of academic research support, and the department’s success shows how solid its researchers are, said Dennis Peppas, M.D., chairman of the urology department.
“We couldn’t be any more proud of the accomplishment of our researchers as we are of our own children,” Dr. Peppas said. “It has to do with the quality of the research we are doing, and the recognition by NIH that we do good work.”
Ian M. Thompson Jr., M.D., director of the Cancer Therapy & Research Center and the urology department’s former chairman, was the principal investigator who brought in the most funding at $7.46 million, earning a spot as second on the list of researchers nationwide.
“Clearly, Dr. Thompson is a superstar, and has been since the day I met him over 30 years ago,” Dr. Peppas said.
Other urology department faculty members receiving NIH funding in 2011:
- Dipen Parekh, M.D., associate professor
$679,965 - A. Pratap Kumar, Ph.D., associate professor
$482,662 - Rita Ghosh, Ph.D., associate professor
$298,892 - Sunil Sudarshan, assistant professor
$172,800
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 3 percent of all institutions worldwide receiving federal funding. Research and other sponsored program activity totaled $228 million in fiscal year 2010. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced approximately 26,000 graduates. The $744 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.