Five-Year Strategic Plan for Research
Tomorrow's treatments in the clinic or at the patient's bedside begin in the laboratory today.
Because so much of modern healthcare begins in the research laboratory, our School is looking to increase external research funding by 25% and launch five new interdisciplinary research projects by July 2027, focusing on community-relevant health topics and collaboration across departments.
Ultimately, our goal is to land our School among the Top 3 producers of biomedical research as ranked by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research (Community-Based Medical School category).
Five-year Plan
Our five-year plan outlines a targeted, structured effort to double UND SMHS extramural funding from approximately $20M to $40.7M annually by expanding research capacity and investing in faculty, infrastructure, and interdisciplinary collaborations. In addition to current SMHS strengths, additional growth will be targeted toward UND Grand Challenges areas and the top 10 causes of death in North Dakota according to the CDC:
- Heart Disease
- Cancer
- Accidents (falls/motor vehicle)
- Alzheimer’s Disease
- Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases
- Stroke
- Diabetes
- Chronic Liver disease/cirrhosis
- Suicide
- Kidney Disease
Investing in Research
This initiative requires an estimated total institutional investment of $9.5M over five years in faculty hires, staff, and pilot grants support to achieve sustainable growth. The estimated return in extramural funding is $20.7M, assuming a 10% success rate for submitted grants.
In parallel with the increase in funding, the SMHS will work to achieve >50% of its medical/graduate students and residents presenting/publishing research.