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As UAB moves forward with its Research Strategic Initiative: Growth with Purpose, we are excited to share some of the resources being invested in its bold vision of growing the research enterprise to increase our positive impact on people’s lives.
“One of the key contributors to our dramatic growth over the past 10 years has been a willingness to invest in our people and programs to position ourselves to achieve our ambitious goals,” said UAB President Ray Watts, M.D.
Here are four ways these investments are moving the initiative forward:
1. Funds for recruitment and retention
The Growth with Purpose Faculty Recruitment Fund, launched in July 2024 by the Office of the President, was created through $20 million from a one-time Education Trust Fund supplement. The fund’s goal is to expand UAB’s portfolio of funded principal investigators. Deans can fill out the application provided by the Office of the President to identify candidates for fund consideration. This process involves identifying candidates who can contribute to the vision of the Research Strategic Initiative: Growth with Purpose and align with one or more of the initiative’s strategic priorities, including:
- advancing research excellence in high growth areas;
- fostering interdisciplinary research that solves complex problems;
- encouraging research that leads to inventions, breakthroughs and innovations with a significant economic footprint;
- strengthening and creating research experiences for students and trainees; and
- engaging in research that positively impacts the community and contributes to address the health needs of Alabamians.
For further information and/or application form, email ckhadka@uab.edu.
The Impact Fund, a pool of state money, is made available through the Heersink School of Medicine (HSOM) Dean’s Office to augment recruitment and retention packages for outstanding, highly funded faculty ranked at the assistant professor level or higher. These state funds are intended to foster economic growth, as assessed by increased extramural support to UAB and an increase in research employees who are supported, in part or whole, by extramural resources. The HSOM administers the IMPACT Fund and is available for consideration to investigators in all UAB schools involved in biomedical and technological research and development. This inclusivity ensures collaboration and partnership within the school and across campus.
For further information and/or application form, email hande@uab.edu.
2. Enhanced research capabilities
UAB’s new electronic research administration tool — an integrated, cloud-based platform named myUABResearch — represents a major investment in leading technology that will allow faculty to manage their research more efficiently and better track both the grant application process and monitor outcomes. The new technology will be integrated with other tools on campus, such as the OnCore clinical trials management platform, to ensure UAB has access to the complete data necessary to generate analytics to track progression of applications and awards through the system and take corrective actions in time when projects fall off track.
3. New leadership roles
Investment in two new leadership positions to oversee a universal vision and further develop infrastructure and process for both clinical trials and research operations to help ensure that faculty have clear contacts for guidance and support, ensuring that research activities are conducted effectively and efficiently.
4. New infrastructure for interdisciplinary collaboration
New research facilities and renovations of existing buildings represent a massive investment in the future of research at UAB. Several of these projects are set to come online shortly, providing space for the growth of existing research and for new investigators recruited to UAB.
- The McCallum Research Building renovation will help accommodate state-of-the-art wet lab space for additional research teams from many departments. The new space encourages collaborative interactions, which will propel research excellence to the next level. The renovation is scheduled to be completed in Fall 2024.
- The 175,000 square foot Altec/Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building, scheduled for completion in December 2024, will have space to accommodate an estimated 80 existing and new faculty. The building will house the Hugh Kaul Precision Medicine Institute, Department of Biomedical Informatics and Data Sciences, the Heersink Institute for Biomedical Innovation, the Heersink Institute for Global Health and the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, among other entities.
- After a groundbreaking in June 2024, construction is now underway on the 225,000 square foot Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research and Psychology Building, an eight-story facility with wet and dry labs that will house the research-intensive departments of the Heersink School of Medicine as well as the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Each of these expanded research spaces has been designed intentionally to encourage interdisciplinary work. This infrastructure will allow faculty from different disciplines to collaborate on complex research projects, leading to more innovative solutions.
Editor’s Note: UAB is constructing a $190 million Biomedical Research and Psychology Building. The project is supported by $152 million of federal funding (80% of the project budget) from the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The remaining $38 million (20% of the project budget) are not federal funds.
