“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.” — President Ray Watts, M.D.
As we move forward with our Growth with Purpose Initiative, 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.
Quicklinks
- myUABResearch opens a new website (Electronic Research Administration Tool)
GWP Faculty Recruitment Fund Application
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Funds for Recruitment and Retention
GWP Faculty Recruitment Fund Application
The Growth with Purpose Faculty Recruitment Fund was launched in July 2024 by the Office of the President. The fund’s goal is to expand UAB’s portfolio of funded principal investigators. Deans can fill out the application 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
The Impact Fund 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 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 all UAB schools involved in biomedical and technological development. This inclusivity ensures collaboration and partnership within the school and across campus.
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Enhanced Research Capabilities
UAB’s new electronic research administration tool opens a new website — 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.
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New Leadership Roles
Investment in two new leadership positions (listed below) 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.
- The Associate Vice President for Clinical Trials Operations (AVP CT) will set the vision and strategy to deliver integrated Clinical Trails (CT) oversight across the campus and health system, thus expanding and developing the CT portfolio. This individual will be the key operational stakeholder for university-wide CT administration, including their associated standard operating procedures, workflow processes in academic and central units, and regulations and guidelines from sponsoring agencies and oversight authorities.
- The Senior Associate Vice President for Research Operations (SAVP RO) will oversee the day-to-day operations of the Office of Research, including business operations, compliance, facilities and infrastructure, communications, finance, human resources, and procurement. This individual will assess daily business processes and facilitate the implementation of efficient operations.
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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.
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.