New grants, awards from Oct.-Dec. exceed $23M

The University of Mississippi Medical Center garnered 84 new and continuing grants and awards from October-December 2018, totaling $23,680,504.

The following faculty received some of the largest new awards during the quarter. Dollar values are shown as annual figures for the first year of funding, unless otherwise indicated. 

Dr. Bettina Beech, dean of the John D. Bower School of Population Health, received a seven-year, up to $7 million grant ($850,869 for Year One) from the National Institutes of Health for the “Jackson Heart Study Training and Educational Center.”

Dr. Damon Darsey, associate professor of emergency medicine, received a $1,999,998 grant from the Department of Homeland Security for the “Rural Emergency Medical Communications Demonstration Project.”

Dr. Michael Garrett, professor of pharmacology and toxicology, received a four-year, $1,550,000 grant ($387,500 for Year One) from the NIH for the project, “Genetic Targets of Hypertension End Organ Damage.”

Dr. Kedra Wallace, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, received a two-year, $640,000 grant ($320,000 for Year One) from the NIH for the project, “Hypertension and Neuroinflammation During Pregnancy: The Impact on Maternal Behavior and Offspring Neurodevelopment.”

Dr. Yin-Yuan Mo, professor of pharmacology and toxicology, received a $620,000 grant from the Department of Defense for the project, “Identification of lncRNAs Required for Synthetic Lethal Interactions with Mutant KRAS in Pancreatic Cancer.”

Dr. Charlotte Hobbs, associate professor of pediatrics, received a $528,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the project, “Determination of Prevalence of the Soil-transmitted Helminth Hookworm, Ancylostoma Duodenale, Necator Americanus, and Related Diseases of Poverty in High-risk Counties in Mississippi.”

Dr. Barbara Alexander, professor of physiology and biophysics, received a $299,999 grant from the NIH for the project, “Hypertension in Adult IUGR Offspring: Beneficial Effects of Perinatal Intervention.”

Dr. Leandro Mena, professor and chair of population health science, received a $72,154 subcontract from the NIH and Rhode Island Hospital for the project, “Telemedicine for PrEP Throughout Mississippi (Tele-PrEP-MS)” and a $72,058 subcontract from the NIH and Brown University for the project, “Mobile Health Platform for Providing Real-time Follow-up After Home-based HIV Self-testing for High-risk Men Who Have Sex with Men.”

Dr. Kenneth Butler, professor of medicine, received a $132,433 subcontract from the NIH and the University of Michigan for the project, “A Social Epigenomic Approach to Health Disparities in Cardiovascular Risk Factors.”

Dr. Joseph Majure, professor of pediatrics, received a $130,000 subcontract from the NIH and Duke University for the project, “Pharmacokinetics of Understudied Drugs Administered to Children per Standard of Care.”

Dr. Takeki Suzuki, assistant professor of medicine, received an $86,008 subcontract from the NIH and Mayo Clinic for the project, “Shared Decision-making for Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation (SDM4Afib).”

Dr. Tobe Momah, assistant professor of family medicine, received a $59,552 grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration and Carolinas Medical Center for the project, “Education and Mentoring to Bring Access to Care for SCD (EMBRACE-SCD).”

Dr. Robert Annett, professor of pediatrics, received a $50,000 grant from the Simons Foundation for the project, “Reducing Disparities in SPARK Study Participation.”Dr. Bettina Beech, dean of the John D. Bower School of Population Health, received a seven-year, up to $7 million grant ($850,869 for Year One) from the National Institutes of Health for the “Jackson Heart Study Training and Educational Center.”

Dr. Mehul Dixit, professor of pediatrics, received a $61,000 subcontract from the Rhode Island Hospital for the project, “ACTHAR for the Management of Treatment-resistant Nephrotic Syndrome in Children: A Pilot Study.