From July 2024 through June 2025, the UNC School of Medicine research endeavor totaled more than $641 million, including $345 million from the National Institutes of Health.
"I am incredibly proud of our School of Medicine faculty for all that they have accomplished over the last year," said Samantha Meltzer-Brody, MD, MPH, Executive Dean at the UNC School of Medicine. "In the face of tremendous uncertainty, our faculty doubled down, submitting 15% more proposals this year - often condensing a monthslong process into weeks. Because of their resilience, we closed the year at $641 million in federal research funding, which will translate into discoveries that advance science and accelerate development of innovative treatments to decrease suffering."
Although the National Institutes of Health funds more than half of UNC School of Medicine, the school also receives research funding from the State of North Carolina, PCORI, the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and many nonprofit organizations and private foundations.
Samantha Meltzer-Brody, MD, MPH
The UNC School of Medicine developed and initiated a number of programs this year aimed at expanding infrastructure to help develop innovative breakthroughs, developing and retaining a research workforce to advance basic and translational research to improve patient care, and expanding access to clinical trials and health-related research through broader coordination/synergy across the UNC and the UNC Health organizations.
"I am profoundly grateful to our dedicated faculty, students, fellows, and staff who dedicate themselves to advancing biomedical research to benefit the people of North Carolina and the world. Their contributions to our research mission are invaluable," said Blossom Damania, PhD, Vice Dean for Research at the UNC School of Medicine and Chief Scientific Officer of UNC Health, the Boshamer Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, and member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The accomplishments of UNC School of Medicine researchers are too many to detail here, but you can find many more the UNC Health Marketing and Communications team covered in our newsroom: news.unchealthcare.org. You can even search by month or topic.
Below we highlight a few unique research stories from fiscal year 2025 that our UNC Health team covered.
A Novel Multi-Nut Allergy Treatment Study
Edwin Kim, MD, MS
New sublingual immunotherapies (SLIT) have shown much promise for children allergic to peanuts - a legume grown from seeds planted in the ground - but treatment options for tree nut allergy lag behind.
To address this unmet need, Edwin Kim, MD, MS, division chief of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology and director of the UNC Food Allergy Initiative at the UNC School of Medicine, was awarded a $1-million grant to investigate tree nut allergies in children ages 1-11 years old, with Kim will serving as principal investigator of the three-year research study.
