Discovery Research Annual Report 2019
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UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER Discovery Research Annual Report 2019 Grand Challenges Building Cross-Campus Research Collaborations TURNING RESEARCH INTO CURES UNM Health Sciences Center UNM HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER Research Annual Report 2019 VISION Managing Editor Michael Haederle The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center will Design work with community partners to help New Mexico make more Jana Fothergill progress in health and health equity than any other state. Contributing Editors Emily Monteiro Morelli MISSION Yamhilette Licon Muñoz We will provide an opportunity for New Mexicans to obtain an Nicole Maphis excellent education in health sciences, advance health discovery Photography Seth Fuller and innovation in the most important areas of human health and Jett Loe ensure that all populations in New Mexico have access to the Allan Stone highest-quality health care. iStock by Dreamstime CORE VALUES The UNM Health Sciences Center’s mission is guided by our values of excellence in education; patient care and research; commitment to service; quality and safety; integrity and accountability; respect and compassion for all people; teamwork and collaboration and providing hope for those we serve. ©2019 The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center Office of Research Published by the HSC Communications Department Special thanks to Stacy Bigbie, James MacFarlane and Margaret Hart for their assistance Printed by Starline Printing, Albuquerque, N.M. See inside back cover for information on donating to bioscience research at the The University of New Mexico. Contact voice 505-272-6950 fax 505-272-8738 hsc.unm.edu/research university of new mexico health sciences center Research Annual Report 2019 CONTENTS LETTERS Paul B. Roth, MD, MS, Chancellor for Health Sciences 2 Richard S. Larson, MD, PhD, Executive Vice Chancellor 3 Christine Kasper, PhD, RN, Dean, College of Nursing 4 Donald Godwin, PhD, Dean, College of Pharmacy 5 Tracie Collins, MD, MPH, Dean, College of Population Health 6 Martha Cole McGrew, MD, Executive Vice Dean, School of Medicine 7 FEATURES Reaching for the Top 8 HSC Researchers Take On UNM’s Grand Challenges Michael Haederle Closing the Gap KL2 Scholars Program Enhances the Research Enterprise 12 Yamhilette Licon Muñoz Overcoming the Opioid Crisis 14 Research Moves From Bench to Bedside Nicole Maphis Engineering Excellence 18 Christina Salas Leads BioDesign Initiative Emily Monteiro Morelli 2019 HSC Training Grants 20 2019 Research Excellence Awards 24 2019 HSC Grant Listings 27 Information for Donors Inside back cover unm health sciences center 2019 1 hen it comes to Institutes of Health. Thanks to a $4 research, our name million NIH grant and matching W pretty much says it funding from the Health Sciences all – the UNM Health Sciences Center. Center, we will be able to commence Biomedical research is the backbone construction of a new wing on Pete of everything else we do, from pro- and Nancy Domenici Hall that will viding state-of-the-art patient care to allow us to catapult our research in educating the next generation of New Neurosciences. Mexico health care practitioners. Over the past year, our scientists I’m proud to report that in the and their research teams have paul b. roth, md, ms past year our researchers have once received much-deserved recognition again demonstrated their focus, their for their discoveries in areas like vac- passion and their truly amazing talent cine development, cancer treatment, Chancellor for innovation in multiple areas. Alzheimer’s therapy, community When President Garnett S. Stokes health interventions and much more. for Health issued her Grand Challenges to Overall, our researchers are Sciences advance signature research across the moving toward greater integration university at the end of last year, our with our clinical practitioners in faculty stepped forward with a host addition to their existing focus on of creative ideas. HSC researchers conducting basic science. This prom- successfully submitted two proposals ises to yield even more discoveries, – to promote successful aging and new applications of existing technol- address substance abuse – that stand ogy and improved ways of providing a strong chance of making a positive clinical care. impact in our community. And thanks to the major role Our extramural research funding played by the HSC in supporting the matches almost exactly where we New Mexico Bioscience Authority, were last year, despite an overall we are helping our state to realize the decline in federal research money. economic benefits of the cutting-edge This is thanks in large part to the research that happens here. skillful stewardship of our research These many developments speak enterprise. to the diversity and sophistication Laboratory space is a premium of our research environment. We on our campus, so one bright spot is have a great deal to be proud of, and the recent reinstatement of con- I look forward to seeing what we will struction funding from the National achieve in the coming year. █ 2 unm health sciences center research annual report 2019 he UNM Health Award from the National Institutes Sciences Center’s of Health and the National Cancer T research mission Institute grant that supports our encompasses a thriving scientific Comprehensive Cancer Center. enterprise that is bringing hope We were fortunate to receive an for new cures to thousands of New NIH construction grant earlier this Mexicans. But it is also a grant-fund- year to support the addition of a ing powerhouse that makes a 16,000-square-foot addition to Pete significant contribution to our state’s and Nancy Domenici Hall, adjacent to economy and serves as an agent of the UNM North Golf Course. When it change in our communities. is completed, the new wing will house richard s. larson, md, phd This year, I’m pleased to report that faculty and laboratory space for our we continue our quarter century-long neurosciences and addictions-related record of steady increases in extra- research and will greatly enhance our Executive mural funding, with a total of nearly efforts in these two critically import- $200 million in grants that support ant areas. Vice Chancellor basic, translational and clinical We are also extending our impact for Health research that has a positive impact in multiple ways through forming on community health and health strategic partnerships with the private Sciences care throughout New Mexico. Many sector and with other institutions in of these impacts are discussed in the the community. We continue to play stories in this year’s report. a central role in developing the New We have made real progress in the Mexico Bioscience Authority, which study of substance use disorder, with received staff funding from the New a particular focus on finding ways to Mexico Legislature this year. stem the continuing tragedy of opioid We are a key player (along with overdose deaths in our state. The other local anchor institutions) in the research ranges from assessing the Healthy Neighborhoods Albuquerque impact of neonatal opioid exposure initiative, which is bringing jobs to developing new, more effective and addressing income inequalities medical/behavioral interventions and in order to improve health in our to new vaccines that could block the neighborhoods that need it the most. craving for drugs. Finally, I want to thank the stellar Along these lines, we spent much faculty and staff whose efforts are of the 2019 fiscal year planning for the reflected in this year’s grant listings. renewal of our key strategic grants – Your hard work is the key to our the Clinical and Translational Science success. █ unm health sciences center 2019 / letters 3 he College of Nursing priorities. One will focus on rural has made incredible health and health equity, while the T progress over the past other will tackle bio-behavioral health year in building a robust research and data science. We’re conducting a enterprise that will yield solutions search for faculty to chair these to urgent problems and improve departments. the health and health equity of New We received $500,000 in funding Mexicans. from the Legislature this year to This initiative starts with providing continue our leadership of the our students with a solid foundation New Mexico Nursing Education in clinical and biomedical research. Consortium, which works to coordi- christine kasper, phd, rn We’re already seeing a dramatic nate curricula in nursing programs improvement in how our program throughout the state. Dean stacks up against other institutions. We were pleased to fill 21 positions We’re now ranked No. 7 nationally over the past year. Among our new College of for our nursing-midwifery program, faculty is Mary Patricia Couig, PhD, Nursing and among the top 15% in the nation MPH, a retired rear admiral with for the master of science in nursing the U.S. Public Health Service, who program. We’ve also made an inter- assumed the Carter-Fleck Endowed national list of the top 200 nursing Professorship. She has extensive expe- programs in the world. rience in state disaster preparedness In a major step, we’re launching a and has led projects for the World new program to admit University of Health Organization. New Mexico freshmen directly into I have been fortunate to establish our bachelor of science in nursing a laboratory at UNM to continue my program. Applicants must already own research, and earlier this year, we have been admitted into the UNM received a subaward grant from the Honors College, and they can expect American Association of Colleges of to be doing research, just like other Nursing for the All of Us project – Health Sciences students. a major genome initiative to procure We’ll encourage these students to biological samples from a more pursue graduate studies, such as a diverse population. master’s-level advanced practice reg- This in turn will lead to more istered nurse or doctoral degree.