By Bob Norris

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The College of Pharmacy at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center is celebrating a milestone year, having recently been ranked 12th nationwide among pharmacy schools for National Institutes of Health grants. This ranking highlights significant progress in pharmaceutical research and healthcare innovation, demonstrating the College’s notable impact in the field.

Rising steadily from a 34th place ranking and $3 million in NIH funding in 2010, the College of Pharmacy has mobilized its faculty, students, and staff to increase research funding, reaching $19 million in 2024. This sustained effort has kept the college consistently ranked among the top institutions since 2020. “The continued high ranking in NIH funding among schools of pharmacy is validation of the excellence in research of the college’s faculty and their cutting-edge scientific quest to improve human health,” Dr. Bernd Meibohm told the University of Tennessee Health Science Center News.

The College’s research priorities center on drug discovery, molecular disease mechanisms, pharmacometrics, and the advancement of drug delivery systems. Faculty and researchers are committed to developing safer and more effective treatments and clinical applications across a range of conditions, including cancer, as well as neurological, metabolic, and infectious diseases.

Within the College’s Center for Pediatric Experimental Therapeutics, researchers have established the institution as a national leader in fungal pathogen research. They also collaborate with faculty at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to help translate laboratory discoveries into potential treatments for pediatric patients in need of advanced medical care.