Federal Grant Award Summary

Tulane University received a $185,511 Project Grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859), awarded July 1, 2026, with completion scheduled for June 30, 2031. The award supports the establishment and expansion of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), formally titled TULEAD (Tulane University Leading Education in Advanced Discovery), which provides interdisciplinary training for MD-PhD students to become physician-scientists. The program leverages faculty expertise across Tulane's School of Medicine, School of Public Health, and School of Science and Engineering, with training concentrated in infectious disease, immunology, cardiovascular and renal physiology, and pharmacology research.

The program builds upon Tulane's existing Physician Scientist Program (established 2002) and complementary pipeline initiatives to recruit and train the next generation of academic physician-scientists. The MSTP training curriculum integrates clinical and bench research experiences, supported by pipeline programs designed to develop undergraduate STEM students into competitive MSTP applicants. This award complements existing National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) R38 resident pipeline funding and capitalizes on Tulane's demonstrated commitment to research infrastructure, including recent recruitment of American Association of Universities (AAU) scholars and establishment of presidential research chairs that have increased investigator-initiated R01 funding by over 70 percent within five years.