Boundary-Breaking Research
Collaboration is in the DNA of the researchers that call University of Utah Health home, and we know that combining ingenuity with dedication can create a sum that is far grander than its parts. Working together in rich scientific and clinical environments with strong community connections opens extraordinary opportunities for bringing discoveries—whether basic science, translational, or population-based—toward improving the health of people.
Learn about the special initiatives, institutes, centers, and academic schools, colleges and departments that drive our nationally recognized research, and our strategy for increasing our impact. With innovative scientists, top-notch facilities, and surroundings that inspire creativity, U of U Health is the place where students, trainees, and experts come to build collaborations and careers that advance knowledge and transform health.
Six Interdisciplinary Initiatives
U of U Health is giving special focus to six interdisciplinary research areas that are poised to make big impacts. By bringing together bright minds from disparate disciplines we are advancing discovery science and addressing some of the toughest problems in health and disease.
Diabetes & Metabolism
The Utah Diabetes and Metabolism Research Center catalyzes scientific innovation to improve metabolic health by unifying researchers, educators, clinicians, and trainees to understand the metabolic underpinnings of diabetes and related diseases. We develop state-of-the-art interventions to prevent, treat, and ultimately cure diabetes and other metabolic diseases.
Immunology, Inflammation, & Infectious Disease
At the intersection of immunity, inflammation, and infection, the "3i" Initiative leverages the University of Utah’s historic strengths in basic, translational, and clinical research to make fundamental discoveries that improve diagnosis and treatment of a myriad of diseases, from COVID-19 and sepsis to colitis and cancer.
Genomic Medicine
The Center for Genomic Medicine is harnessing the power of family-based genomics to prevent and cure disease in Utah and beyond. Together, our patients, health care providers, and researchers are working to discover the genetic causes of disease and translate these discoveries into accurate diagnoses, targeted treatments, prevention strategies, and cures.
Digital Health Initiative
The Digital Health Initiative is future-focused, aiming to transform health and the way health care information gets to patients, their families, and health care teams. This initiative serves as a hub for advancing the development and commercialization of transformative digital technologies. We are committed to engineering innovations through a culture of collaboration.
Data Exploration and Learning for Precision Health Intelligence
The Data Exploration & Learning for Precision Health Intelligence Initiative is a center for optimal integration of complex data sets with innovation to advance insights across health and medicine. We are establishing a leading-edge footprint by applying biomedical data science research, interdisciplinary community collaborations, and expanding data science education.
Center for Medical Cannabis Research
The Center for Medical Cannabis Research initiative will lead the advancement of cannabis research through funding grants and sponsored collaborative projects, creating a community of multidisciplinary faculty focused on generating translational understanding of the impact of cannabis on public health.
U of U Health Research Strategy
U of U Health improves human health for all by advancing biomedical discoveries, innovation, and health care practices. Weaving discovery through all we do amplifies the impact and pace of our combined work and further differentiates us as a leading academic health system. Our five-year research strategy aims outlines directed steps to:
- enhance scientific excellence,
- build resources that support cutting-edge research and innovation,
- foster a thriving and diverse community of faculty and trainees,
- sustain our famed culture of collaboration to accelerate breakthrough discoveries, and
- grow our financial strength to advance the research enterprise and its mission, values, and goals.
COVID-19 Research Response
Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. Within weeks of the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, the University of Utah Health and University of Utah research communities worked as One U to quickly redirect their expertise and mobilize enormous efforts toward understanding the nature of the novel coronavirus and its impact on society. Today some 200 investigators from nearly every discipline are leading more than 400 COVID-19-related projects to study the virus from all angles—from testing and vaccine trials to its impact on vulnerable communities and rates of domestic violence.
Team Grant Support and Strategic Hiring Program
The Team Grant Support and Strategic Hiring Program at University of Utah Health supports research teams applying for complex and collaborative federal grants. It supports two types of requests: proposal development support for existing teams and requests for funding (up to $400K) to recruit faculty to complete a research team as well as proposal development support for that team.
