The University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB) ranked first in 2012 funding to dental schools and academic institutions by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR).
UAB was awarded $12.9 million by the NIDCR in 2012, $2.5 million more than the second-ranked Forsyth Institution, the university noted in a press release.
The majority of the NIDCR funding increase is due to the new National Dental Practice-Based Research Network. The seven-year, $66.8 million grant, announced in 2012, consolidated the institute's former three regional research networks into a single, nationally coordinated effort is housed in the UAB Department of Clinical and Community Sciences. The school received $9.97 million for the project in 2012.
The department of periodontology saw an increase of $720,123; the department of oral and maxillofacial surgery had an increase of $629,312; and the department of pediatric dentistry saw an increase of $117,570.
The NIDCR is the primary sponsor of dental, oral and craniofacial research and research training for the National Institutes of Health.