Grants and Funding

The Department of Medicine conducts impactful basic, translational, and clinical research across 11 affiliated research centers, and ranks 14 in NIH funding with investigators receiving $109 million annually for research in areas as varied as cancer immunogenetics, the microbiome, HIV, diabetes therapies, and clotting disorders. This is an archive of grant awards received by faculty in the UNC Department of Medicine.

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, February 1 – February 28, 2023.

Division of Hematology

• Shakira Grant, MBBS, received a one-year, $11.5K grant from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute Programs to Increase Diversity Among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research (PRIDE).
• Callie Berkowitz, MD, was awarded a grant from Foundation for Women and Girls with Blood Disorders. Alice Ma, MD, FACP, and Nigel Key, MB, ChB, FRCP, will serve as project managers.

Division of Cardiology

• The lab of Brian Jensen, MD, received its first NHLBI R01 funding renewal for $2.48M to support the investigation of the adaptive effects of alpha-1 A adrenergic receptors on mitochondrial function in the heart.

Division of Geriatric Medicine

• C. Adrian Austin, MD, MSCR, was awarded a two-year, $500K grant from the National Institute of Aging for his project, “Development and Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy of a Telemedicine-Based Delirium Assessment Tool.”

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, January 1 – January 31, 2023.

Division of Oncology

• Jacob Stein, MD, MPH, received a $50K award for UNC Adolescents and Young Adult Cancer Program: Reach and Influence on Cancer Care Delivery.
• Ashwin Somasundaram, MD, received the $150K Lineberger Developmental Award and the $50K Pancreatic SPORE Career Enhancement Award Grant.

Division of Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine

• Kenichi Okuda, MD, was awarded a $583K, five-year, NIH R01 grant for his project, “mucociliary innate defense mechanism in the human distal airway”

Division of Hematology

• Brandi Reeves, MD, was awarded a Core Facilities Voucher to characterize neurobehavioral changes in a mouse model of polycythemia vera (PV).

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, December 1 – December 31, 2022.

Division of Infectious Diseases

• Arlene Seña, MD, MPH, received $1.9 Million to advance diagnostic product development for syphilis.

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, November 1 – November 30, 2022.

Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology

• Mildred Kwan, MD, PhD, and team received a Pfizer grant to address health disparities in antimicrobial stewardship.

Division of Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine

• Scott Randell, PhD, was awarded a $2 million grant titled, “Validation of the RD-X19 COVID Treatment Device toward Regulatory Approval and Commercialization.”

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, October 1 – October 31, 2022.

Division of Geriatric Medicine

• David Lynch, MD recently received a Clin-STAR Pilot Grant.

Division of Infectious Diseases

• Lina Rosengren-Hovee, MD, MPH, MS received HRSA grant for building a text messaging patient check-in system for youth living with HIV at the Wake County Health Department.
• Arlene Sena-Soberano, MD, MPH, was awarded a new NIH contrast as PI for a syphilis specimen biorepository that will involve three US sites and two international sites (including UNC Project Malawi) over 4 years.

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, September 1 – September 30, 2022.

Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology

• Andrew Moon, MD has received a $200,000 (AASLD) Clinical, Translational and Outcomes Research Award (CTORA) from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases for his grant on “Incorporating the Patient Voice into Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treatment Models”.

Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology

• Doug Phanstiel, PhD and Richard F. Loeser, MD, were awarded a $2.5M NIH NIAMS Grant to ID Osteoarthritis Risk Genes.
• Sarah Booth, PhD, and Richard F. Loeser, MD, received a NIH/NIAMS grant to study the effects of vitamin K on osteoarthritis.

Division of Infectious Diseases

• Angela Wahl, PhD, received a $3.2 million R01 award to study the role of microglia in HIV latency and persistence in the brain.

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, August 1 – August 31, 2022.

Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology

• Amanda Nelson, MD, MSCR, RhMSUS, received, a 5-Year, $3.4M NIH grant to investigate intestinal permeability in multi-joint osteoarthritis
• Saira Sheikh, MD, and team receive $500K NIH U01 “Innovation Award” from FDA’s Office of Minority Health & Health Equity, to advance diversity and representation in lupus.
• Amanda Nelson, MD, MSCR, RhMSUS, received a 5-year, $950K NIH/NIAMS Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient Oriented Research

Division of Infectious Diseases

• Jonathan J. Juliano, MD received $3.4 million to study the increase of relapsing malaria species in Africa.

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, July 1 – July 31, 2022.

Division of Hematology

• Patrick Ellsworth, MD, received a grant for his project titled “Mechanistic Investigation of Factor IX/Ixa Synergy with Emicizumab” from Novo Nordisk “Access to Insight”

Division of Nephrology and Hypertension

• Gang Xi, PhD, and Prabir Roy-Chaudhury, MD, PhD, FRCP(Edin), were recently awarded a $2.7 million grant by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), for their project titled, “Modulation of VSMC phenotype through the Insulin Receptor Substrate 1/Kruppel-like factor-4 signal transduction pathway: a Novel Target for AVF Dysfunction.”

Division of Infectious Diseases

• Nilu Goonetilleke, PhD has been selected as a Yang Family Biomedical Scholar.

Division of Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine

• Silvia M. Kreda, PhD, received an Eshelman Institute for Innovation Award to advance her studies on Therapeutic Oligonucleotides to Correct Splicing Defects Causing Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD).

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, June 1 – June 30, 2022.

Division of Infectious Diseases

• Becky White, MD, MPH, was awarded $200,000 by the Looking Forward funding program to better understand testing and vaccination rates within a large jail in Wake County, N.C., as well as when the survey respondents return to their home communities.
• Tessa Andermann, MD, MPH, received a $30,000 pilot award from the Center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease (CGBD) for the study, “Investigating the role of secondary bile acid derivatives in Th17-mediated disease: A pilot study of multiple myeloma and treatment response.”

Division of Hospital Medicine

• Christina R. Kahl, MD, PhD was awarded an Improvement Scholars grant by the Institute for Healthcare and Quality Improvement

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, May 1 – May 31, 2022.

Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology

• Evan Dellon, MD, MPH, has been awarded a $315,295 grant from the NIH National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases (NIDDKD) for his project titled, “An allergen-specific immune signature-directed diet vs sham diet for treatment of eosinophilic esophagitis: A pilot-feasibility study”

Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

• Kenichi Okuda, MD, PhD will receive $140,000 over two years from the Cystic Fibrosis Research Institue (CFRI) for his project, “Pathways Maintaining Basal Mucin and CFTR-mediated Fluid Secretion in the Human Distal Airway.”

Division of Cardiology

• Tammy Long, AGNP, and Kirk Adams, MD were the recipients of a 2022 Top Research Site Award for UNC Health Care by the Heart Failure Collaboratory and the Heart Failure Society of America for outstanding performance on two clinical trials: PARAGLIDE-HF, and LY3461767 in Participants With Chronic Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction.

Division of Oncology

• Joannie Ivory, MD, recieved a 2022 Conquer Cancer Young Investigator Award

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, April 1 – April 30, 2022.

Division of Hematology

• Nigel Key, MB, ChB, FRCP has been awarded a 5-year, $2.2M T32 grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
• Brandi Reeves, MD was awarded a 2-year, $165,000 Hemostasis and Thrombosis Research Society Mentored Research Award to study Hypoxia Inducible Factors in Myeloproliferative Neoplasm-Associated Thrombosis.
• Rafal Pawlinksi, PhD and Brandi Reeves, MD awarded a $50,000 TraCS Translational Team Science pilot grant for the project “Hypoxia Inducible Factors alpha in Myeloproliferative Neoplasm-Associated Thrombosis”.
• Benjamin Vincent, MD, received a Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBSP) Faculty Mentor Award:
  • “Ben [has a] flexible style, letting us set our own schedules and trusting us to get our work done. He has allowed us to take a hybrid approach to returning to the lab, working from lab when we have experiments to get done and working from home when we have other work to do such as writing. This style has allowed everyone to craft their days around what is most productive for them and has let people come back in at their own pace.“

• Anson Snow, MD has been awarded a 2-year, $300K NC Collaboratory Award for his project titled “Development of a mRNA lipid nanoparticle (mRNA-LNP) cancer vaccine to prevent leukemia relapse after stem cell transplant”
• Brandi Reeves, MD has been awarded a 1-year, $50,000 Carolina Caregiver grant.
• Jeff Jensen, MD, PhD received a $50,000 Lineberger Innovation Award for his project “Risk of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Patients with Multiple Myeloma on Immunomodulatory Drugs”.

• Recipients of the 2022 Carolina Care Excellence Awards were chosen by our patients’ outpatient survey responses. They were top quartile nationally! This year’s recipients are:

  • Catherine Coombs, MD, MS
  • Raj Kasthuri, MBBS
  • Nigel Key, MB, ChB, FRCP
  • Teresa Sadiq, APRN, BC
  • Rebecca Sawchak, RN, MSN, AGPCNP-C
  • Megan Sterlina, PA-C
  • Hank Van Deventer, MD
  • Sascha Tuchman, MD, MHS
  • William Wood, MD, MPH

Division of Infectious Diseases

• Claire Farel, MD, MPH has been awarded a $201,002 grant towards the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Part C Early Intervention Services Program, which provide comprehensive HIV primary care and support services in an outpatient setting for low income, uninsured, and underserved people with HIV. 

Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology

• Anne Peery, MD, MSCR has been awarded a $475,046 grant from the NIH National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases (NIDDKD) to perform a prospective cohort study to determine the role of obesity in diverticulitis.

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, March 1 – March 31, 2022.

Division of Oncology

• Yara Abdou, MD, received a METAvivor research grant for “Investigating Survivin as a novel target for immunotherapy in Black women with breast cancer.”
• Jared Weiss, MD, and Barbara Savoldo, MD, received a $1.8M DoD grant to study GD2 CART for lung lancer.
• Emily Ray, MD, received a 2-year $150,000 Career Development Award from the Lung Cancer Initiative for a project entitled “Development of an enhanced risk stratification system for patients with hospital-diagnosed advanced lung cancer.”

Division of Hematology

• Nigel Key, MB, ChB, FRCP has been awarded a 5-year, $2.2 million T32 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Division of Cardiology

• Anil Gehi, MD, received a $1,169,615 Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation Award for “Improving Outpatient Comprehensive.”

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, February 1 – February 28, 2022.

Division of Infectious Diseases

• David L. Rosen, MD, PhD, MSPH, received a $580,000 Duke Endowment Award to compare the impact of transition-to-care service programs on healthcare utilization and mortality among people with chronic health conditions released from the NC state prison system.

Division of Oncology

• Brian C. Miller, MD, PhD, received a $700,000 Burroughs Wellcome Grant for the study “Personalized Immunotherapy Approach to Cancer.”

Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

• Allen Cole Burks, MD, received a US Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program (LCRP) Idea Development Award (IDA).

Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology

• Kelli Allen, PhD, received an NIAMS grant for the project “Optimizing Osteoarthritis Care Through Clinical & Community Partnerships.”

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, December 1, 2021 – January 31, 2022.

Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

• Honey Jones, DNP, ACNP-BC, MBA, was awarded funding from the Clinical Investment Committee for the “Critical Care Advanced Practice Provider Support Program” (CCAPPS).

Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology

• The Osteoarthritis Action Alliance received a $100K/one-year grant from the NextFifty Initiative. Leigh Callahan, PhD, is Director of the OAAA, and the UNC Thurston Arthritis Research Center is the OAAA’s lead agency.

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, November 1 – November 30, 2021.

Division of Cardiology

• Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation has awarded Anil Gehi, MD, a three-year grant to improve atrial fibrillation (AF) care.

Division of General Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology

• Seth Berkowitz, MD, received an R01 NIH grant to advance health equity in Type 2 diabetes.

Division of Infectious Diseases

• David Rosen, MD, PhD, is principal investigator of a study that will review the NC Formerly Incarcerated Transition (NCFIT) Program, funded by a three-year Duke Endowment Award.
• Arlene Seña, MD, MPH, received a $1,559,355 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for “Genomic epidemiology of Treponema pallidum strains infecting women and men in low-income countries to inform syphilis vaccine development.”

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, October 1 – October 31, 2021.

Division of Geriatric Medicine

• John Batsis, MD, was awarded a grant from NC TraCS to study early detection of sarcopenia in collaboration with David Lynch, MBBS.

Division of Oncology

• Lisa Carey, MD, received a grant from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation for “Clinical implications of metastatic subtype, microenvironment, and organ of involvement.”

Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology

• Richard Loeser, MD, received an NC TraCS grant for “Discovering new therapeutics for osteoarthritis.”
• Leigh Callahan, PhD, received a five-year CDC grant for “Advancing national arthritis public health priorities through the OA Action Alliance.” She also received an NCTraCS grant for “Cherokee health for elderly residents with OA of the knee in the Eastern Band: The CHEROKEE Study.”
• Lara Longobardi, PhD, received an NIAMS R21 grant for “Feutin-A in Post-traumatic OA; at the crossroads of joint and muscle degeneration.”

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, September 1 – September 31, 2021.

Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology

• Andrea Azcarate-Peril, PhD, received an NC TraCS pilot grant award.

Division of Geriatric Medicine

• Joshua Niznik, PharmD, PhD, received an NC TraCS pilot grant award.
• UNC’s Center for Aging and Health received a two-year Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department of Health and Human Services grant (with University of Louisville’s Trager Institute) to deliver COVID-19-specific education and training to the nursing home workforce, as well as residents, families, and caregivers. Cristine Henage, EdD, is the principal investigator.
• The National Institute on Aging has awarded Shakira Grant, MBBS, and the UNC Center for Aging and Health a two-year grant to study the illness and treatment experiences and functional trajectories of older adults with multiple myeloma.

Division of Hematology

• Jonathan Serody, MD, received an NIH (NHLBI) R01 grant of $3.4M to evaluate epigenetic changes in innate lymphoid cells as a mediator of acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease (GvHD) after stem cell transplantation.

Division of Hospital Medicine

• Evan Raff, MD, received an NC TraCS pilot grant award.

Division of Infectious Diseases

• Marcia Hobbs, PhD, and Alex Duncan, MD, PhD, received a five-year, $3.9 million grant to study how a vaccine recently developed to prevent life-threatening infections caused by group B Neisseria meningitidis, the MenB vaccine, may also protect people from infection with Neisseria gonorrhoea, a sexually transmitted bacterial infection.
• Sarah Rutstein, MD, PhD, and Karen Swanson, PhD, received NC TraCS pilot grant awards.

Division of Oncology

• Hyman Muss, MD, received funding from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation for “p16INK4a Expression, Chemotherapy Toxicity, and Aging in Women with Breast Cancer.” He is also a sub-recipient PI for “Patterns of Aging and the Role of Biomarkers of Senescence,” sponsored by the Georgia Tech Research Corporation, and “Measuring cellular senescence to predict and prevent peripheral neuropathy.

Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

• Carla Ribeiro, PhD, received an NIH grant for “Pre-Clinical Evaluation of IRE1beta As a Novel Therapeutic Target for Cystic Fibrosis Airway Mucus Production.”

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, August 1 – August 31, 2021.

Division of Infectious Diseases

• UNC HIV Cure Center led by David Margolis, MD, was awarded $26.2 million over the next five years.

Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

• Silvia Kreda, PhD, received a phase two NIH Small Business Innovation Research Grant to continue studies for a novel oligonucleotide therapeutic strategy for treating cystic fibrosis.

Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology

• The Osteoarthritis Action Alliance led by Leigh Callahan, PhD, received five years of CDC funding to advance National Osteoarthritis Public Health Initiatives.
• Lara Longabardi, PhD, Yvonne Golightly, PhD, and Amanda Nelson, MD, are recipients of pilot grants from the UNC Core Center for Clinical Research Pilot Grants.

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, July 1 – July 31, 2021.

Division of Infectious Diseases

• Ed Browne, PhD, received a $4-million NIH grant to study the effects of cannabis use on the HIV reservoir.
• The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has awarded Ross Boyce, MD, MSc, a 2021 Clinical Scientist Development Award for his research proposal entitled, “Getting malaria off the back of women and children in western Uganda,” which aims at reducing the incidence of malaria among infants and young children in rural Uganda.

Division of Oncology

• Marjory Charlot, MD, MPH, was named the 2021 recipient of the Conquer Cancer Advanced Clinical Research Award for Diversity and Inclusion. The honor includes a three-year, $450,000 grant to support Charlot’s study of an app to encourage Black women to participate in breast cancer research.

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, June 1 – June 30, 2021.

Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism

• Klara Klein, MD, PhD, received a physician-scientist award to cultivate her career as a translational clinician scientist.

Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology

• Resident Corey Ketchem, MD, received the Bondurant-Ehringhaus Award to support research with Evan Dellon, MD, MPH, on eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and other esophageal diseases.

Division of General Medicine

• Karin Whelan, MD, received an award to promote a more equitable health system.

Division of Nephrology and Hypertension

• Thomas Hostetter, MD, and Lori O’Brien, PhD, received a grant from the Renal Research Institute for “Discovering the Stimulus to Renal Compensatory Growth.”

Division of Oncology

• Shetal Patel, MD, PhD, received a physician-scientist award to cultivate her career as a translational clinician scientist.
• Emily Ray, MD, MPH, received a three-year Conquer Cancer Career Development Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology to evaluate and validate the use of a prognostic calculator for 30-day mortality in patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

• Brad Drummond, MD, MHS,and Ilona Jaspers, PhD, received R01 funding for “The Role of Nasal Mucosal Immunity and Microbiome on the Frequent Exacerbation Phenotype of COPD.”
• Jason Akulian, MD, MPH, received a grant from Becton Dickinson for “A comprehensive serial evaluation of tumor-immune interaction heterogeneity in malignant pleural disease.”

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, May 1 – May 31, 2021.

Division of Infectious Diseases

• Lisa Hightow-Weidman, MD, PhD, received an NIMHD grant award for “A multidimensional digital approach to address vaccine hesitancy and increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake among African American young adults in the South.”

Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

• Michael Knowles, MD, received a grant award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for “Whole Genome Sequencing to Define Gene Modifiers in CF.”

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, April 1 – April 30, 2021.

Division of Geriatric Medicine

• John Batsis, MD, was awarded $225,000 from the NIH’s National Institute on Aging to develop and test a remote-sensing resistance band exercise system with a team of researchers from Dartmouth.
• Joshua Niznik, PharmD, PhD, was awarded a 5-year K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award by the NIH’s National Institute on Aging for “Deprescribing Bisphosphonates in Nursing Home Residents with Dementia.”

Division of Hematology

• Rafal Pawlinski, PhD, and Nigel Key, MD, were awarded a $2.8 million, 4-year R01 grant from the NIH-NHLBI to investigate the mechanism of venous thromboembolism in sickle cell disease.

Division of Nephrology

• Amy Mottl, MD, received an NIH R01 award to study the impact of diabetes on patients with glomerular diseases.

Division of Oncology

• Yara Abdou, MD, received an Innovation Pilot Award for “Investigating Survivin As a New Target to Improve Outcomes of Breast Cancer in Black Women.”

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, March 1 – March 31, 2021.

Division of Hematology

• Patrick Ellsworth, MD, received a Research Restart Award from the American Society of Hematology, which helps ensure research continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Nigel Mackman, PhD, received a grant award for “Tissue factor-dependent coagulation in thrombosis and immune responses” from the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Division of Infectious Diseases

• Ross Boyce, MD, MSc, received a Carolina Caregivers Research Award.

Division of Oncology

• Shetal Patel, MD, PhD, received a Career Development Award from the Lung Cancer Initiative of North Carolina.
• Chad Pecot, MD, received a grant award from the NIH Cancer Institute for “Tumor Endothelial Cell Regulation of Pro-Metastic Fibrin Matrices.”

Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology

• Lara Longobardi, PhD, received an NC TraCS grant to explore macrophage carriers for drug delivery in preventing and treating osteoarthritis.

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, February 1 – February 28, 2021.

Division of Cardiology

• Matthew Cavender, MD, received a grant from the NHLBI via the UNC Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) for “Team Proposal: Utilization of Machine Learning Techniques to Identify Clinical and Genetic Determinants of Calcific Aortic Valve Disease.”

Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology

• Andrew Moon, MD, MPH, and Louise Henderson, PhD, professor of radiology, were awarded a $150K grant from the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center for a hepatocellular carcinoma screening project. 
• Edward Barnes, MD, received an NIH NIDDKD K-23 grant award for “Treatment Approaches and Outcomes in Pouch-related Disasters After Colectomy for Ulcerative Colitis.”

Division of Hematology

• Shakira Grant, MBBS, received the Paul Calabresi Oncology K12 Career Development Award for “Geriatric conditions and the illness experience of adults with multiple myeloma and their care partners.”
• Grant also received a Jimmy V. Foundation Award with Sascha Tuchman, MD, MHS, and Elizabeth Tita, PhD, for “Enhancing underrepresented minority recruitment to clinical trials in multiple myeloma through augmentation of research personnel and infrastructure.”

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, January 1 – January 31, 2021.

Division of General Medicine

• Seth Berkowitz, MD, received a new, five-year R01 grant to broaden clinical studies of medically-tailored meal delivery.

Division of Hematology

• Erica Sparkenbaugh, MD, was awarded a five-year, $2 million R01 grant from NIH-NHLBI to evaluate whether activation of beneficial PAR1 signaling can attenuate the chronic pro-coagulant state of sickle cell disease.

Division of Nephrology and Hypertension

• Thomas Hostetter, MD, and Lori O’Brien, PhD, (Cell Biology and Physiology), were awarded a pilot grant from the Renal Research Institute for “Discovering the Stimulus to Renal Compensatory Growth.”

Division of Oncology

• Shetal Patel, MD, received the “Lung Cancer Initiative of NC” award for “Metabolic reprogramming of the tumor microenvironment, to enhance immunotherapy in lung cancer.“

Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

• Carla Ribeiro, MD, was awarded a grant from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for “Evaluation of IRE1beta as a Novel Target for CF Airway Mucus Production.”

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, December 1 – December 31, 2020.

Division of Hematology

• Nigel Mackman, PhD, FAHA, received an R35 grant from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of the NIH to fund the study “Tissue factor-dependent coagulation in thrombosis and immune responses.”

Division of Infectious Diseases

• Jessica Lin, MD, MSCR, received an NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases R21 grant for “Plasmodium ovale hypnozoite development and relapse: a coordinated in vivo in vitro study.”
• NIH Awards $25 Million to UNC’s Global HIV Clinical Trials Unit. Leading the work from the division of infectious diseases are three co-principal investigators—Joe Eron, MD, Mina Hosseinipour, MD, MPH, and David Wohl, MD.
• NIH funded a study aimed at improving access to COVID-19 testing for underserved NC communities. Michael Herce, MD, MPH, MSc, and David Wohl, MD, are co-principal investigators.
• Myron Cohen, MD, received a seven-year award from the National Institutes of Health for leadership of the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) in collaboration with FHI 360.The AIDS Clinical Trials Group, co-led by Joe Eron, MD, is also receiving continuing NIAID funding.
• Lina Rosengren-Hovee, MD, MPH, received a 2020 Gilead Research Scholar Award for a study that will yield insights into the social media ecosystem that affects uptake of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) among Young Black Men who have Sex with Men (YBMSM).

Division of Oncology

• The American Cancer Society and Pfizer have funded a two-year study, co-led by Katherine Reeder-Hayes, MD, to address racial disparities in breast cancer.

Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

• Jason Mock, MD, PhD, received an R01 grant from the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to fund “Defining the Role of Regulatory T Cells in Resolution of Acute Lung Injury.”
• Robert Hagan, MD, PhD, received an NHLBI grant to fund “Functions of TBK1 in Neutrophils During Bacterial Pneumonia.”

Congratulations to faculty who secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, November 1 – November 30, 2020.

Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology

• Balfour Sartor, MD, and Shehzad Sheikh, MD, PhD, are co-principal investigators of a $2 million grant from the Helmsley Charitable Trust to conduct translational research that will predict recurrence after surgery for Crohn’s disease.

Division of Nephrology and Hypertension

• Amy Mottl, MD, MPH, is receiving a five-year NIH Multi PI R01 grant award for “The Impact of Diabetes on Patients with Glomerular Disease: CureGN-Diabetes.”

Congratulations to faculty who have secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, October 1 – October 31, 2020.

Division of General Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology

• The Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), in partnership with the Center for Health Equity Research at UNC-Chapel Hill and Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, has received an $80 million award to serve as the coordinating and data collection center for a four-year program that will overcome barriers and increase uptake of testing among underserved and vulnerable populations across the U.S. Giselle Corbie-Smith, MD, MSc, is lead investigator for the UNC School of Medicine, participating in a national effort to build innovative and sustainable solutions to expand test access and uptake in underserved and vulnerable communities.

Division of Oncology

• Timothy Voorhees, MD, received the 2020 ASCO Conquer Cancer Foundation, Young Investigator Award for “Prospective Pilot Study of PD-1 Inhibition Following CD30 Directed Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell Therapy in Relapsed/Refractory Hodgkin Lymphoma.” Voorhees also received the 2020 AACR-AstraZeneca Lymphoma Research Fellowship Award for “Pilot Study of Anti PD 1 Therapy Following CD30 Directed CAR T Cell Therapy.”

Congratulations to faculty who have secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, September 1 – September 30, 2020.

Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

• Jennifer Goralski, MD, received an NIH K23 grant to study “Quantitation and Spatial Registration of Airways Dysfunction With Dynamic 19F MRI In Cystic Fibrosis.”

Division of Infectious Diseases

• Victor Garcia-Martinez, PhD, received an NIAID grant in the amount of $621,932 to study “In Vivo Evaluation of HIV Latency Reversal Strategies. NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.”
• Lisa Hightow-Weidman, MD, MPH, received an NIMH grant in the amount of $286,656 for “Using EMA to developmentally tailor an intervention to support on-demand PrEP among YMSM. NIH National Institute of Mental Health.”

Division of Geriatric Medicine

• Laura Hanson, MD, MPH, is site leader for a newly awarded $4.1M multi-center grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA). With this award, the NIA funds the first major clinical trial of comprehensive dementia-specific palliative care. Other trial sites include: University of Colorado, Indiana University and Massachusetts General Hospital.
• For the third year in a row, the UNC Center for Aging and Health has received an NIA T-35 grant to fund the MSTAR program (Medical Students Training in Aging Research), in the amount of $526,825. UNC’s MSTAR program has trained 111 medical students in aging research since 2010. Jan Busby-Whitehead, MD, is principal investigator, Philip Sloane, MD, MPH, and Richard Loeser, MD, are co-program directors, and Ellen Roberts, MD, MPH, is associate program director.
• The Center for Aging and Health is a sub-recipient of the CDC’s “Building Our Largest Dementia Infrastructure for North Carolinians” (BOLD NC) funding, partnering with the NC Division of Aging and Adult Services (grant PI) and NC Division of Public Health to bring a public health, coordinated, systematic approach to our state’s brain health efforts. BOLD NC’s initiatives will also focus on inequity and reaching underserved and minority populations who are disproportionately affected. Ellen Schneider, MBA, will lead UNC-Chapel Hill’s BOLD NC team.

Congratulations to faculty who have secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, August 1 – August 31, 2020.

Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism

• Laura Young, MD, PhD, and Katrina Donahue, MD, MPH, received a PCORI grant to study the impact of COVID-19 on glucose monitoring in diabetes patients.

Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

• Silvia Kreda, PhD, was awarded an NIH SBIR Phase II grant to study molecules that enhance delivery of therapeutic oligonucleotides to correct lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis, with Rudolph Juliano, PhD.

Division of Infectious Diseases

• Mina Hosseinipour, MD, MPH, was awarded a five-year grant from NIH/NHLBI to enhance blood supply in Malawi and successfully re-competed her NIH D43 training program for Malawians.
• Jessica Lin, MD, and Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH, received an R21 entitled “Development of novel diagnostics for African non-falciparum malaria.”
• Ed Brown, PhD, was awarded an SBIR Phase II NIH contract for UNC’s HIV Cure Center and Cell Microsystems to further develop single-cell diagnostic assay.

Congratulations to faculty who have secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, July 1 – July 31, 2020.

Division of Geriatric Medicine

• Joshua Niznik, PharmD, PhD, was awarded pilot funding from the US Deprescribing Research Network (USDeN) for his proposal entitled “Deprescribing Bisphosphonates in Nursing Home Residents with Dementia.”

Division of Hematology

• Stephan Moll, MD, received an award from the Anticoagulation Forum for “2020 Clinical Fellowship Award in General Vascular Medicine Focusing on VTE, PAD, and Anticoagulation.”
• Rafal Pawlinski, MD, received an award from the American Society of Hematology for “The role of APC, thrombin, and PAR-1 in microvascular stasis in sickle cell disease.”

Division of Infectious Diseases

• The NIH awarded Myron Cohen, MD, and Family Health International $9.2 million for development of COVID prevention studies.
• Ross Boyce, MD, received a “Creativity Hub Award” to develop and implement evidence-based, cost-effective surveillance and response systems to address vector-born disease, an epidemic affecting the entire state, but particularly those living in rural and underserved communities in NC.

Division of Nephrology and Hypertension

• Ronald Falk, MD, received an award from the NIH NIDDKD for “Pathobiology of ANCA Glomerulonephritis: Targeting Adaptive and Innate Immune Processes for Precision Therapies.”

Division of Oncology

• Benjamin Vincent, MD, received an award from the NIH NCI for “Gvl mHA Specific T Cell Responses Prevent AML Relapse Following Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation.”
• Natalie Grover, MD, received an award from the Lymphoma Research Foundation for “CCR4 in Relapsed/Refractory Hodgkin Lymphoma.”

Division of Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine

• M. Patricia Rivera, MD, ATSF, has received a four year, $1.5 million NIH R01 grant to study “Comorbidity and Functional Status in a Population Undergoing Lung Cancer Screening.”
• Subhashini Sellers, MD, received pilot funding from the UNC Center for Environmental Health Sciences to study the upper respiratory immune response in COVID-19.
• Allen Cole Burks, MD, received a Tier 1 UCRF grant for “Development of a Miniaturized Multidirectional Ultrasound Ablation Array (MiDUSa) for Endobronchoscopic Lung Nodule Ablation.”

Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology

• Beth Jonas, MD, received an award from the Rheumatology Research Foundation for “Fellowship Training for Workforce Expansion.”

Congratulations to faculty who have secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, June 1 – June 30, 2020.

Division of Cardiology

• Anil Gehi, MD, received a grant from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation to create a new patient education program to help patients with atrial fibrillation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Division of Hematology

• Dougald Monroe, PhD, received NIH funding to help guide the development of novel treatments and new therapeutics for bleeding.
• Nigel Mackman, PhD, and Nigel Key, MB, CHB, were awarded pilot funding from the School of Medicine and NC TraCS to study plasma biomarkers to better understand the coagulopathy associated with COVID-19.

Division of Oncology

• Nicholas Tschernia, MD, and Timothy J. Voorhees, MD, are grant recipients in the new class of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Division of Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine

• Robert Hagan, MD, PhD, received a Junior Investigator Award from the American Thoracic Society’s Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology for “Myeloid TBK1 Signaling Contributes to the Immune Response to Influenza.”

Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology

• Onyinye Iweala, MD, PhD, has received a $1-Million NIH Grant to study alpha-gal syndrome.

Congratulations to our faculty and fellows who have secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, May 1-May 31, 2020.

Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology

• Amanda Nelson, PhD, received a $1.7M, 5-Year NIH Grant to demonstrate the utility of ultrasound osteoarthritis (OA) assessment and standardize scoring, utilizing data from a population-based community cohort. Learn more.

Congratulations to our faculty and fellows who have secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, March 31-April 24, 2020.

Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism

• John Buse, MD, PhD, is UNC site principal investigator for a $5.7 million diabetes research collaboration with Duke, Wake Forest, and NC A&T, funded through the National Institutes of Health.
• Janet Rubin, MD, received a $2.4 million grant from the NIH NIAMSD to study the role of force regulated nuclear structure in expression of osteogeneis.

Division of Hematology and Oncology

• Dougald Monroe, PhD, is an investigator for a newly-awarded R01 grant to create better mathematical models that can guide the development of new therapeutics for bleeding.
• Jane Little, MD, received an Innovation Pilot Award for “OneSCD UNC: Improving Care for People with Sickle Cell Disease in North Carolina.”

Congratulations to our faculty and fellows who have secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, February 15, 2020-March 31, 2020.

Division of Hematology and Oncology

• Nigel Key, MD, ChB, CRCP, received a $180,000 grant for the “Evaluating the Mechanism of Emicizumab-related Thrombotic Microangiopathy.”
• Tracy L. Rose, MD MPH, received an NCI K08 grant for the project “Selective histone deacetylase inhibition with entinostat to enhance the anti-tumor immune response to immune checkpoint inhibition in urothelial cancer.”

Division of Infectious Diseases

• Ross Boyce, MD, MSc, received a 2019 Emerging Challenges in Biomedical Research Award, with PI Corbin Jones, PhD, and Dan Schrider, PhD. Learn more.

Division of Nephrology and Hypertension

• Jenny Flythe, MD, MPH, received an award for $116,625 from the NIH National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), to conduct a pilot feasibility study of loop diuretics among individuals receiving hemodialysis. Learn more.
• Flythe also received an R01 award for “QT prolonging medications and sudden cardiac death among individuals on Hemodialysis.”

Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

• Blaire Wendlandt, MD, MSc, received a Weill Research Grant from the Society of Critical Care Medicine. Learn more.

Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology

• Saira Sheikh, MD, and Nigel Key, MD, ChB, CRCP, with local biotech company EpiCypher, have received a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases grant to develop and commercialize a novel blood-based assay that can be used to study and diagnose a range of diseases, from rheumatoid arthritis and lupus to cancer-associated venous thromboembolism.The total award to EpiCypher® is $3m over three years, with just under a $1m sub-award to UNC. More here.

Congratulations to our faculty and fellows who have secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, January 15, 2020-February 14, 2020.

Division of Hematology and Oncology

• Kirsten Nyrop, PhD, has received a one-year, $50,000 award to study interventions for racial disparities in breast cancer survival from the Integrated Approach to Breast Health Equity Competitive Grant Program, a collaboration between the American Cancer Society and Pfizer. Read more.
• The Anticoagulation Forum’s Ansell Fellowship Program has awarded the UNC School of Medicine with a grant that will fund one year of fellowship training in vascular medicine. Stephan Moll, MD, professor of medicine in the division of hematology and oncology, is principal investigator.

Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology

• Onyinye Iweala, MD, PhD, was granted the three-year Faculty Development Award by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI). The focus of her research will be: “Glycolipids and Invariant Natural Killer T Cells in Alpha-gal Syndrome.” Read more.

Congratulations to our faculty and fellows who have secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, December 15, 2019-January 15, 2020.

Division of Hematology and Oncology

• Erica Sparkenbaugh, PhD, and Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics fellow Robert Lee, PhD, have been selected to receive Scholar Awards from the American Society of Hematology’s (ASH). Sparkenbaugh received a $125,000 award to support her research into the mechanisms of thrombin generation and end-organ failure in sickle cell disease. Read more.
  

Division of Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine

• Silvia M Kreda, PhD, won the NC Biotech Translational Research Grant with UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Anthony Hickey, PhD. The project, “Nucleic Acid Aerosol Delivery by a Novel Evaporation-Condensation Method from a Coated Filament,” was awarded $100K.

Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology

• Amanda Nelson, MD, MSCR, RhMSUS, received a $365K, two-year grant from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases to study advanced methodologies of osteoarthritis phenotyping. Read more.

Congratulations to our faculty and fellows who have secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, November 15-December 15, 2019.

Division of Hematology and Oncology

• Catherine Coombs, MD, received the Prostate Cancer Foundation’s Young Investigator Award, which awarded $225,000 across three years to study whether genetic mutations that accumulate in the blood over time are linked to worse outcomes for prostate cancer. Read more.

• Natalie Grover, MD, was awarded a three-year Lymphoma Research Foundation Career Development Award, for “CD30-Directed CAR-T Cells Co-Expressing CCR4 in Relapsed/Refractory Hodgkin Lymphoma.”

• Kirsten A. Nyrop, PhD, (PI) and co-Investigators Marjory Charlot, MD, MPH, MSc, and Hyman B. Muss, MD, won a $50,000 one-year grant from Pfizer/American Cancer Society Quality Improvement Grant for a clinic-based “Patient-Centered Communication  about Healthy Weight” (PCC-HW) in a Diverse Sample of Women with Early Breast Cancer.
• Matthew Painschab, MD, received an NIH K Career Development award in September 2019 to lead research dedicated to improving treatment for multicentric Castleman disease in Malawi. Read more.

Division of Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine

• Eduardo Lazarowski, PhD, received a $135,000 grant from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for “Ecto-ATPase inhibitors restore airway mucus hydration in CF.” 

Congratulations to our faculty and fellows who have secured new grants in the Department of Medicine, October 15-November 15, 2019.

Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

• Carla M. P. Ribeiro, PhD, was awarded a $250,000 grant from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to study novel targets for CF airway mucus production.

Division of General Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology

• Dan Jonas, MD, MPH was awarded a $2.2 million grant to address unhealthy alcohol use. Learn more.

Division of Nephrology and Hypertension

• Kiri Bagley, MD, MPH, received a Carolina for the Kids Foundation grant for a quality improvement project that will provide disaster ready education and prevention resources for pediatric dialysis patients.

Division of Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology

• Kelli Allen, PhD will lead the study, “Precision Medicine to Inform Rehabilitation and Exercise Therapies for Knee Osteoarthritis,” a pilot grant awarded to generate evidence of precision medicine approach. Learn more.

Congratulations to our faculty who have secured new grants in the UNC Department of Medicine, September 1-October 15, 2019.