Biomedical research funding for UH earns $158M for state

Kacie Yamamoto, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
·3 min read

Apr. 12—Funding from federal biomedical research grants awarded to the University of Hawaii in 2023 generated $158 million in state economic activity and supported 819 local jobs, according to a report released in March.

Funding from federal biomedical research grants awarded to the University of Hawaii in 2023 generated $158 million in state economic activity and supported 819 local jobs, according to a report released in March.

The report—published by United for Medical Research, a coalition of research institutions, health advocates and private organizations—evaluates the economic impact of funding from the National Institutes of Health nationwide.

"Every research dollar that leaves NIH does double duty by supporting life-changing research and by generating jobs and economic activity that support local economies across the United States, " UMR President Caitlin Leach said in a UMR news release.

These NIH grants support the employment of researchers as well as the purchase of goods, services and materials related to research. The income generated through these research jobs and purchases creates new economic activity. According to the report, every $1 of NIH funding generates $2.46 in new economic activity.

For the 2023 fiscal year, UH received $516 million in extramural funding, with just over $58 million coming from NIH grants.

"Most of that money comes to support research, but also translational research—research that we take from the lab to the bed, " UH Vice President for Research and Innovation Vassilis L. Syrmos told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. "This goes beyond the actual bench research. We touch the community through our translational programs."

Projects funded by NIH grants include large centers that do work on diabetes, cardiovascular research and breast and liver cancers, as well as programs that study health care in rural communities.

Funds from NIH directly support the UH Pacific Center for Genome Research, which studies why certain diseases disproportionately affect different racial groups, and the Integrative Center for Environmental Microbiomes and Human Health, which is developing three facilities for interdisciplinary research on how microbiomes affect health.

These NIH-funded projects allow UH to do research that is Hawaii-specific, Syrmos said, such as multiyear studies that research cancer in Asian American communities, a cardiovascular center that studies heart diseases that are predominant in Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander groups, and an NIH-funded center for research on diabetes, a condition that is also often found in Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

"You don't find this type of research or activities in many other places but here in Hawaii, and we're very fortunate that we're part of that and part of NIH, " Syrmos said. "This research is community-based research, and it's research that is not done in any other place within the United States, that is very focused and specific in our community, our needs and our population."

UH faculty members apply for the grants, which are usually large and span a duration of multiple years, Syrmos said.

The state received a total of $68.7 million in NIH funding for FY 2023. Eighty-five percent of this funding, or 79 of the 93 NIH grants awarded in 2023, went to UH.