The University of Alabama at Birmingham had $538 million in research expenditures in 2016, and ranked No. 15 nationally among public universities and No. 31 overall in federally funded research in 2016, according to National Science Foundation data.
"Competition is fierce for research funding, so our increases in funding underscore the importance of work being done here," UAB President Ray Watts said. "UAB will continue to recruit and support the students, faculty and staff who conduct the transformational work that ensures we stay at the forefront of discovery."
UAB now ranks sixth among southeastern universities in federal research expenditures, behind only North Carolina (8), Duke (10), Georgia Tech (11), Vanderbilt (24) and Emory (27). The state of Alabama received $281.5 million in NIH funding in fiscal year 2016, which makes UAB responsible for more than 85 percent of the state's NIH-funding dollars.
UAB continues to produce scientific breakthroughs from advancements on the cutting edge of precision medicine research to new research showing how a component of neurons may protect against Alzheimer's disease.
UAB's National Institutes of Health funding reached $238 million in fiscal year 2016, including $186 million to the School of Medicine. That number is expected to top $195 million in School of Medicine funding in 2017, as the school also exceeded 300 principal investigators for the first time in two decades.
"UAB is Alabama's largest single employer, with more than 23,000 employees and an economic impact exceeding $7.15 billion a year. But we have no greater impact than when our innovations improve and save lives," said Christopher S. Brown, PhD, vice president for Research.