OKLAHOMA CITY – The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center has received an $18.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to expand biomedical research for some of the most complex diseases and to develop the workforce to take that research into the future.

The grant is from the NIH’s Institutional Development Award program (IDeA), whose aim is to broaden the geographic distribution of NIH funding. This grant specifically focuses on cancer, diabetes and the development of new medical devices and treatments for patients.

While the OU Health Sciences Center leads the program, it is actually a statewide network of universities and colleges, as well as researchers from the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. Grant dollars not only advance existing research programs but help to build a pipeline for the next generation of researchers and healthcare professionals through outreach to high school and college students.  The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education are providing an additional $250,000 per year to support the program.

The OU Health Sciences Center has successfully renewed the grant three times.