September 01, 2023 Surgery research shows marked increase in FY 23 and strong start in FY 24

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In a year of record-setting research funding at the University of Kentucky, the department of surgery contributed over $1.6 million in federal grants and industry awards, a 47 percent increase from fiscal year 2022.

As a whole, the University of Kentucky set new records in research awards, 1,877 awards to a record 837 PIs from a record 621 sponsors. (Click this link for a UKnow story on this record setting year). Surgery is a participant in these records with renewal of several existing grants and newly awarded ones. 

Marlene Starr, PhD, division chief of research at the department of surgery, indicated that surgery shares in the continuing trend upward in research funding across the University of Kentucky campus. Surgery is responsible for 31 funded projects to 18 Principal Investigators (PIs) in the 2023 fiscal year.

In addition to this improvement, the department is already on pace to outperform 2023. In the first two months of FY 2024, surgery has generated $395,868 in funding, a stark contrast to the same time last year when Surgery registered only $52,645 in research. Included in the current funding is an R21 NIH research grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute awarded to Dr. Starr and new awards to Dr. Eric Rellinger from the American Pediatric Surgery Association and Dr. Brittany Levy from the Chest Wall Injury Society.