A Marshall University physician has been awarded a five-year almost 11 million dollar grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate obesity and obesity-related conditions in West Virginia.
Uma Sundaram, vice dean for research at the Marshall University School of Medicine and a gastroenterologist, will be the grant’s principal investigator.
Sundaram said many of the diseases we see in West Virginia have their roots in obesity. The funding is important because it supports obesity research that could have a significant impact on the future health of those in West Virginia and Appalachia.
This is the first time in almost 15 years that Marshall’s medical school received the NIH grant known as Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence. It is the largest programmatic award in the school’s history. The federal funding is designed to help strengthen an institution’s biomedical research infrastructure.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Marshall Health, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.