OCAST awards $4 million for health research

May 22, 2012

OCAST, the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology, has awarded nearly $4 million dollars for 30 health research projects that will take up to three years to complete. The Oklahoma Health Research program was the first program implemented by the state’s science agency when it was created 26 years ago as Oklahoma began a long-term economic diversification effort. The agency currently administers 11 programs that offer funding or support in areas ranging from health research to plant sciences.

The 30 winning applications were chosen from a field of 154, one of the largest application pools in the program’s history.

“The growing number of applicants indicates the level of demand for basic health research,” said C. Michael Carolina, executive director of OCAST. “Many of the successful applicants will attract private and federal research dollars to Oklahoma – a major factor in Oklahoma’s growing reputation as a supporter of health research. Improved health and high-wage and high-skill jobs are follow-ons to this investment.”

The purpose of the Health Research program is to: (1) strengthen the competitiveness of Oklahoma health researchers for national research funds; (2) recruit and retain outstanding health research scientists for the state; (3) improve health care for Oklahomans; and (4) strengthen the state’s health care industry. Research funded under the program investigates the causes, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of human diseases and disabilities and facilitates the development of innovative health care products and services.

Successful applicants and their organizations include:

University of Tulsa

• Jamie Rhudy
• Lisa Cromer

OU Health Sciences Center

• Madeleine Cunningham
• Jody Summers
• Ping Song
• Zhonglin Xie
• H. Anne Pereira
• Allan Wiechmann
• Stephen Gillaspy
• James Tomasek
• Yusuke Takahashi
• Blaine Mooers

Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation

• Weidong Wang
• Hui-Ying Lim
• Eliza Chakravarty
• Gary Gorbsky
• Kenneth Smith

Oklahoma State University

• Donghua Zhou
• Eduardo Yukihara
• Marianna Patrauchan
• Guoliang Fan
• Guolong Zhang
• LeGrande Slaughter
• Sundararajan Madihally

University of Oklahoma

• Andrea Vincent
• Ann West
• Wai Tak Yip
• University of Central Oklahoma
• Jicheng Fu

Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences

• Bruce Benjamin
• Kathleen Curtis