College of Pharmacy moves up to fourth in AACP research rankings

The UNMC College of Pharmacy now ranks fourth nationally among 110 pharmacy schools in terms of National Institutes of Health research dollars per Ph.D. faculty member, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) has announced.

The college moved up two spaces from sixth last year.

Jonathan Vennerstrom, Ph.D., and other College of Pharmacy researchers brought in $6.6 million in National Institutes of Health funds in 2009, which allowed the college to rank No. 4 among 110 U.S. pharmacy schools in research dollars per faculty member.

UNMC also moved up to No. 16 from No. 23 in terms of total awards received by its investigators.

“This is an outstanding accomplishment,” said Courtney Fletcher, Pharm.D., dean of the College of Pharmacy. “It is the result of the creativity, persistence and dedication to improving human health on the part of everyone in the college.”

The rankings — compiled annually by the AACP — show that the College of Pharmacy’s Ph.D.-level investigators collectively received more than $6.6 million in NIH funds in 2009. That is a 31 percent increase in NIH funds from 2008, when the college’s researchers collectively brought in about $5 million.

The $6.6 million in 2009 also means the college has more than doubled its NIH funding since 2006, when it brought in about $3 million.

The College of Pharmacy has seen its NIH research funding more than double since 2006 and nearly triple since 2005.

The college benefits from a system that matches the efforts of the faculty with their individual talents; an approach that allows those who are strong teachers to do the majority of instruction while strong researchers get more time for investigation, Dr. Fletcher said.

“This superb accomplishment in research funding is indeed the result of the collective contributions of the entire faculty,” Dr. Fletcher said.

And with developments in work such as plans for a potential Center for Drug Development the research future for the college looks bright, Dr. Fletcher said.

“We have the people in place to be a leader in pharmacy research for a long time,” Dr. Fletcher said.