NIDCR Ranks School of Dentistry 12th in U.S. for FY18

The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) released its rank listing of funding to U.S. dental institutions for FY 2018. The UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry ranked 12th, jumping 8 spots from number 20 in FY 2017. The overall FY 2018 funding amount was documented at $3,805,147, eclipsing the previous year’s funding by over a million dollars. Dr. Brij Singh, Associate Dean of Research, remarked that “Our goal was to be in the top 15 dental schools by 2020; we are really proud of our faculty and leadership. I am confident that if we keep up the hard work, we should be in the top 10 dental schools within the next 2 to 3 years.” Dr. Andrea Giuffrida, Vice President for Research, extended his congratulations to our School, Dr. Singh and his research teams. Dr. William L. Henrich, President, stated that this is “tremendous news” and that this ranking is “A milestone on the way to the top of the charts!” Dean Peter M. Loomer pronounced that this indeed is “fantastic news”, yet reminds us that “NIDCR funding is less than a third of our total grant support.” Aries Okungbowa-Ikponmwosa, Senior Research Coordinator, explains that this ranking is based solely on funding awarded for oral or craniofacial research under NIDCR. She clarifies that “the grants excluded from this ranking are other National Institutes of Health grants, like PBRNs. Practice-Based Research Networks work within the community at private clinics and are permitted to enroll subjects into research, and other projects that are more general for pain research, Alzheimer’s research and the sort.” Aries adds that funding from other federal organizations like the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA), Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, or the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) are also not included because they are not housed under NIH. Total funding for FY2018 in the School of Dentistry came in at $9.5M. Our top research dollars came from Dr. Brij Singh with his grant transfers, Dr. Ken Hargreaves for grant renewals, Dr. Armen Akopian for resubmissions, and Dr. Anibal Diogenes with a new award in 2018.