By Jill Pease

Just two years after its introduction, the Research Innovation Fund has resulted in College of Public Health and Health Professions faculty receiving millions in external funding to support research on topics ranging from HIV to hearing loss to muscle health.

The PHHP Research Innovation Fund supports pilot or feasibility testing to place faculty members, particularly early career researchers, in an optimal position to obtain larger grants from outside agencies. Research Innovation Fund grants of up to $25,000 are awarded on a rolling basis and provided within four weeks of proposal submission.

To date, the fund has awarded more than $146,000 to 11 college scientists. With the knowledge gained from their preliminary studies, faculty have applied for and received more than $5 million in grants from agencies such as the National Institutes of Health.

“The Research Innovation Fund arrived at a pivotal time for my lab because we were in between funding cycles with several grants under review and others that had recently ended,” said Russell Hepple, Ph.D., a professor of physical therapy who studies skeletal muscle changes caused by aging and disease.

Research Innovation funding allowed Hepple and his colleagues to retain lab staff and collect key preliminary data, which have been used in grant applications, including one that has been awarded and two others currently under review.

Hongwu Wang, Ph.D., an assistant professor of occupational therapy, purchased critical equipment to accelerate his research on the relationships among sleep, balance and cognition in older adults.

“Our long-term goal is to inform clinical practices and public health strategies to promote healthy aging,” Wang said. “The Research Innovation Fund has been a catalyst for this ambitious work, enabling us to push the boundaries of sleep and balance research and make a meaningful impact on the lives of older adults.”