Department of Surgery FY 2023 Research by the Numbers
- Total funding: $20 million
- Active grants: 106
- Total FY2023 NIH funding: $17 million
- Participating investors: 57
- Total number of FY2023 NIH-funded DP3, K08, P30, R00, R01, R03, R21, T32 and U01 grants – 30
- Publications: 386
- Clinical trials: 230
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is home to leading-edge research advances at the frontier of surgical sciences. Our research is rooted in engaging with our surrounding community while collaborating to ultimately address public needs. It serves as a platform for the academic development of students, fellows and faculty while providing an opportunity to develop solutions for some of medicine’s most pressing challenges.
State of the art facilities and support
Ohio State’s developing innovation district, Carmenton, is a cutting-edge community where researchers connect and collaborate. It brings the private, public and academic communities together to understand problems and create solutions. Other research facilities include:
- Pelotonia Research Center provides 305,000 square feet where students, academic researchers, city leaders, Fortune 500 businesses and new start-ups — just steps away from each other — have the potential to share promising new ideas and accelerate discovery. Two floors are dedicated to The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center including its new Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology.
- Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Center, opening in 2024, will provide 220,000 square feet of collaborative space and innovative technology for learning across the colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Optometry, Public Health and Veterinary Medicine.
- Biomedical Research Tower (BRT) is currently the largest research facility on The Ohio State University campus and is a critical hub for internationally recognized research programs in cancer, cancer genetics, cardiovascular and lung disease, and high-field imaging. Several Department of Surgery research laboratories are located in the BRT.
In addition to the cutting-edge research space at Ohio State, the university also hosts 15 different colleges, including seven in health sciences and a College of Agriculture. This provides us with the necessary resources — inventive minds, expertise, experience and state-of-the-art facilities — to find novel solutions to complex problems.
Key research highlights
Our team never ceases to stop seeking new discoveries. That’s why we continue to invest resources and effort into the research process. We encourage all of our faculty members to continue to explore and find new ways to improve patient care. The following are other major research projects happening in the Department of Surgery:
Priya Dedhia, MD, PhD – Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program Career Development Award: “Metastatic Progression in Medullary Thyroid Cancer+” in the amount of $1,150,000 over four years
Nahush Mokadam, MD – Accelerator Award/Third Frontier: “Devices and Methods for Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion” for $145,000
Matthew Kalady, MD – Ohio State College of Medicine Patient Care Innovation Award: "Barriers to Colorectal & Anal Cancer Prevention" in the amount of $257,450
Zhentao Zhang, PhD – American Heart Association Career Development Award: “Gata4 regulates cardiac fibrosis via inhibiting myofibroblasts senescence” in the amount of $231,000
Center for Research Education & Advancement of Transdisciplinary Exploration (CREATE)
CREATE is a transdisciplinary intellectual laboratory, where experts in their fields are brought together to connect, endeavor and innovate. Barriers to success are removed and siloed thinking is disrupted such that the brightest minds and ideas are amplified to transform ideas into awe-inspiring solutions. Led by Sylvester Black, MD, PhD, CREATE strives to accelerate health care innovation to improve patient outcomes by forming transdisciplinary teams to pioneer new technologies and devices, advance training methodologies and forge partnerships with private industry to streamline product development by providing cost-effective and expedited expert consultation.
Project teams include physicians; advanced practice providers; pharmacists; nurses; physical therapists; occupational therapists; respiratory therapists; dietitians; faculty from the colleges of Engineering, Design and Nursing; Department of Computer Science and Engineering faculty; graduate and undergraduate students from multiple colleges within Ohio State; and corporate partners.
Learn more about CREATE at medicine.osu.edu/create.
The Collaboration for Organ Perfusion, Protection, Engineering & Regeneration (COPPER) Laboratory
The COPPER Laboratory is a multidisciplinary team consisting of investigators in thoracic and abdominal transplantation, led by co-directors Sylvester Black, MD, PhD, and Bryan Whitson, MD, PhD. Their collaborators include scholars in biochemical engineering, biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering, molecular biology, pharmacology and physiology. The COPPER Laboratory is dedicated to the development of extended ex-vivo donor organ perfusion that will serve as a platform for organ assessment, repair and modification to further improve transplant outcomes and donor organ utilization.
Learn more about the COPPER Laboratory at medicine.osu.edu/copperlab.