2025 was a year of exceptional research, growth, and accomplishment at University of Utah Health. Even as the funding landscape grew more uncertain, our research community demonstrated resilience and a commitment to purpose. Grant proposals submitted in 2024 and 2025 led to a record amount of research funding in fiscal year 2025. The increase was driven by U of U Health researchers submitting substantially more proposals leading into FY25 than the year prior, underscoring a collective commitment to improving lives in Utah and beyond.
These are just a few of the numerous achievements made over the past year, each reflecting unwavering dedication, innovation, and collaborative spirit.
RECORD GROWTH
Health sciences research has increased by 24% in five years and has more than doubled since FY14. In FY25, these awards accounted for 68% of the university's total research portfolio, totaling $782 million. In the health sciences, there were 755 principal investigators who received 1,835 awards.
At U of U Health, grants target initiatives to reduce childhood obesity in the mountain west, develop a blood test that can tell how environmental factors-like poor air quality-affect they body, and investigate whether acupuncture can benefit the health of Veterans experiencing Gulf War illness.
Research support also comes from the U of U Health Philanthropic Partners Group which backs innovative high-risk, projects that are not yet eligible for traditional sources of funding. Last year, they funded projects to develop novel treatments for adrenal cancer, organoid models for aneurysms, and improved drug delivery methods for ECMO patients.
Securing funding is essential to the University of Utah's mission of delivering exceptional societal impact. These investments:
- drive development of new technologies, tests, and treatments
- launch start-up companies and health programs
- fuel Utah's economy
- support training of students and early-career scientists
- advance knowledge
- inform policy
- improve health
WORLDWIDE IMPACT
In 2025, university research drew widespread media attention both in Utah and across the world. The most far-reaching stories highlight the U's expertise in health and disease.
Analysis of extreme divers off the coast of Korea has uncovered genetic differences that could help them survive the intense physiological stresses of free-diving-and could ultimately lead to better treatments for blood pressure disorders.
Covered by 283 news outlets including Washington Post, NPR, Huberman Lab, National Geographic
As use of the popular anti-diabetic and weight-loss drug Ozempic skyrockets, so have concerns about whether the medication causes muscle loss. New research in mice suggests that muscle mass changes less than expected, but muscles may still get weaker.
Covered by 91 news outlets including The Independent, Daily Mail, MSN
New research shows that weight stigma-and not weight itself-has the biggest impact on mental health and healthy behaviors in the years after weight-loss surgery.
Covered by 137 news outlets including CNN, Scientific American, ABC4
INGENUITY AT WORK
The U's Technology Licensing Office transforms pioneering research into real-world impact by guiding University of Utah innovators through every step of commercialization. If anyone knows innovation, they do. At Innovation Awards 2025, TLO honored significant achievements that shaped the university's entrepreneurial culture.
Top awards went to:
Welm, senior director of basic science at the Huntsman Comprehensive Cancer Center and chair of the Department of Oncological Sciences, works on developing groundbreaking models of human breast cancer that have become a standard for studying metastatic behavior and treatment response.
Sundquist, Samuels Professor and chair of the Department of Biochemistry, laid the groundwork in studying and defining the structure of one of HIV's proteins, leading to a twice-a-year therapy to prevent HIV infection in high-risk individuals.
SCIENTIFIC SUCCESS
U of U Health creates a nurturing environment where researchers thrive, enabling senior investigators to build distinguished careers and early career investigators to launch programs that will shape the future. Notable awardees in 2025 that recognize past accomplishments and future potential are:
Bob S. Carter, MD, PhD, CEO of University of Utah Health, was inducted into the National Academy of Medicine, one of the highest honors in the field of health and medicine.
Jessica Osterhout, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurobiology at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, was selected as a 2025 Pew Scholar by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Tracey Lamb, PhD, professor of pathology, was the University of Utah's first National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Jefferson Science Fellow.
