Kansas City-area researchers got more than $102.5 million in National Institutes of Health grants and contracts during federal fiscal year 2021. Read more in the Kansas City Business Journal.
According to a federal database, that’s the second-most since 2011 — and only about $10 million shy of the record ($112.3 million) set during fiscal year 2020.
As in recent years, most of the NIH funds were awarded to just five area research organizations: University of Kansas Medical Center, MRIGlobal, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Stowers Institute for Medical Research and Children’s Mercy.
And as in most years, the vast majority of the funding in 2021 went to universities, hospitals and research institutes, but the NIH still awarded millions in funds to local startups and other businesses outside of academia.
Companies such as Kansas City-based CicloMed LLC and Acenxion Biosystems Inc. of Kansas City, Kansas, landed just shy of $1 million each.
The NIH also continued to awarded money to projects related to the pandemic, as it did last year. For example, Jannette Berkley Patton, a UMKC professor and director of the university’s Health Equity Institute, and her team received a nearly $1.9 million grant to conduct a community study to increase Covid-19 testing and linkage to care services. The team is using the money to engage Black faith leaders in promoting Covid-19 prevention and testing, and in providing tests in church settings on Kansas City’s East Side.