Third-quarter grants, awards top $9.5 million

The University of Mississippi Medical Center garnered 54 new and continuing grants and awards from January-March 2019, totaling $9,745,451.

The following faculty and fellows received some of the largest new and competitive renewal 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 five-year, $2,049,513 award renewal from the National Institutes of Health for the project, “Obesity Health Disparities Research PRIDE (OHD PRIDE).”

Dr. Adolfo Correa, director of the Jackson Heart Study, received a $1,502,098 award renewal from the NIH for the Jackson Heart Study Field Center.

Dr. John Spurzem, professor of medicine, received $351,831 and $121,245 for two industry-sponsored research agreements.

Dr. Philip Merideth, professor of psychiatry and human behavior, received a $421,848 grant from the Mississippi Department of Mental Health for the project, “Child Access to Mental Health and Psychiatry (CHAMP).”

Dr. Thomas Amankonah, associate professor of medicine, received $241,356 for an industry-sponsored research agreement.

Dr. Thomas Mosley, director of The MIND Center, received a $108,500 subcontract from the NIH and the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio for the project, “Cognitively Healthy Nonagenarians in the Cross-cohort Collaboration (CCC)” and a $106,037 subcontract from the NIH and Johns Hopkins University for the “ACHIEVE Study.”

Dr. Robert Craig Long, associate professor of medicine, received $155,980 for an industry-sponsored research agreement.

Dr. Leandro Mena, professor and chair of population health science, received $137,550 for an industry-sponsored research agreement.

Dr. Naznin Dixit, professor of pediatrics, received $101,605 for an industry-sponsored research agreement.

Dr. Lais Young, postdoctoral research fellow in psychiatry and human behavior, received a $99,961 award from Alkermes Therapeutics for the project, “Opioid and Benzodiazepine Co-abuse: Quantitative Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics.”

Dr. Joshua Mann, professor and chair of preventive medicine, received a $74,729 subcontract from the Department of Health and Human Services and Mississippi State University for the project, “Advancing, Inspiring, Motivating for Community Health through Extension (AIM for CHangE).”

Dr. Hyun Joon Lee, assistant professor of neurology, received a $73,693 award from the Department of Veterans Affairs for the project, “Translational Development of FDA-approved COX and LOX Inhibitors to Treat Spinal Cord Injury-induced Neuropathic Pain.”

Dr. Mark Anderson, assistant professor of neurology, received $55,000 for an industry-sponsored research agreement.

Dr. Jeremy Duncan, instructor in physiology and biophysics, received a $54,316 award from the American Heart Association for the project, “Role of Cytokines in Mediating Cerebrovascular Dysfunction in Placental Ischemia.”

Dr. Yuanyuan Duan, assistant professor of biomedical materials science, received a $50,000 award from the Osteo Science Foundation for the project, “An Artificial Eggshell Membrane for Guided Tissue Regeneration.”