3 UCLA faculty receive National Institutes of Health research awards

Three researchers from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA have received National Institutes of Health Director ’s Awards for 2017, highlighting the game-changing potential of the research at UCLA. The awards, which total more than $10 million, are part of the High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program supporting creative scientists who propose innovative, high-risk or unconventional biomedical research projects with the potential for unusually broad impact.“I continually point to this program as an example of the creative and revolutionary research NIH supports,” NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins said in an announcement of the awards. “The quality of the investigators and the impact their research has on the biomedical field is extraordinary.”The program speeds scientific discovery by supporting research proposals that — despite their potential to advance the field — would be considered “risky” in the traditional peer-review process. Winners of the awards have shown evidence of thinking beyond more traditional parameters in order to pursue trailblazing research ideas.For 2017, the NIH issued  12 Pioneer awards,  55 New Innovator awards,  8 Transformative Research awards and  11 Early Independence awards. The funding includes contributions from the NIH Common Fund; National Institute of General Medical Sciences; National Institute of Mental Health; National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health; and National Institute of Dental and Cra...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news