Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine secured $201.7 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) during federal fiscal year 2022, capping another successful year in funding for the institution. Notable awards include those for centers on aging and HIV research, clinical studies directed at improving health equity, and several projects focusing on brain science and health.
“As our faculty demonstrates, year after year, Einstein is home to some of the most innovative and productive researchers in the country,” said Gordon F. Tomaselli, MD, the Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer at Montefiore Medicine. “From basic science to clinical research, our investigators are at the forefront of advancing our understanding of human biology, tackling some of the world’s most intractable health problems and training the next generation of physician-scientists.”
Among this year’s grants are those for Einstein faculty to lead major national and regional projects and centers:
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$32 million grant to support the Einstein Aging Study, (Richard B. Lipton, MD, Carol A. Derby, PhD)
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$11.3 million to expand the Einstein-Rockefeller-CUNY Center for AIDS Research (Harris Goldstein, MD)
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$11 million to evaluate an Einstein-developed screening test for Alzheimer’s and pre-dementia in 22 urban and rural primary care sites (Joe Verghese, MBBS, MS)
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$11 million to look for novel biomarkers that predict a person’s risk for developing post-traumatic epilepsy after suffering a brain injury (Aristea S. Galanopoulou, MD, PhD)
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$6.6 million to launch a joint kidney-urology-hematology research training program with three other New York City sites (Michal L. Melamed, MD, MS, Kelvin Davies, PhD, Frederick J. Kaskel, MD, PhD)
Einstein faculty also received grants for significant programs and initiatives at the College of Medicine:
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$10 million project program grant to study lung metastasis in breast cancer (Jonathan M. Backer, MD)
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$7 million to renovate a BSL3 lab for studying emerging infectious diseases (Kartik Chandran, PhD)
A number of faculty are launching large projects directly addressing health equity, including:
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$5.2 million to investigate the causes of heart disease among Hispanics/Latinos (Carlos J. Rodriguez, MD, MPH)
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$4.2 million to improve PrEP access and prevent new HIV infections in the Bronx (Uriel R. Felsen, MD, MS, Viraj V. Patel, MD, MPH)
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$4.1 million to study the natural history of oral HPV in people living with HIV (Robert D. Burk, MD)
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$3.4 million to limit the spread of COVID-19 among formerly incarcerated people (Matthew J. Akiyama, MD)
Several investigators received major grants focused on brain science and health. In addition to those listed above, they are:
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$4.2 million to discover novel behavioral markers of early Alzheimer’s disease detectable early in the course of disease (Jeannette R. Mahoney, PhD)
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$3.8 million to study the link between HIV infection and depression (Vilma Gabbay, MD, Anjali Sharma, MD, MS, Joan W. Berman, PhD)
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$3.5 million to examine the effects of COVID-19 on the brains of people who had mild or asymptomatic infection (Michael L. Lipton, MD, PhD, Johanna P. Daily, MD, MS)
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$3.4 million to assess the tradeoffs between soccer’s aerobic brain benefits and adverse effects from heading (Michael L. Lipton, MD, PhD)
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$3.4 million to investigate a novel way to restore brain function in a mouse model of Huntington’s disease (Mark F. Mehler, MD)
