University Of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus

University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, a state-controlled, minority-serving and Hispanic-serving educational institution headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, operates as a prime recipient for federal grants and holds a Basic Ordering Agreement with the Department of the Navy for medical education and biomedical research services. As a child entity of the University of Puerto Rico system, UPR-MSC functions as a comprehensive biomedical research and medical training hub delivering advanced medical education, clinical services, and federally funded research across neuroscience, cancer therapeutics, infectious diseases, public health, and health disparities—primarily through grant awards rather than federal contracts.

UPR-MSC's federal activity concentrates heavily in biomedical research and health workforce development. The top five funding sources by award count account for 43 percent of recent activity, led by the National Institutes of Health (72 awards), the Health Resources and Services Administration (59 awards), and NIGMS (44 awards). Representative grant work includes a $2.728 million Transdisciplinary Basic Biomedical Sciences predoctoral training program from NIGMS (CFDA 93.859) supporting up to 30 Ph.D. students annually across six departments; a $1.843 million nursing research grant from NINR (CFDA 93.361) to refine and evaluate VIVE-AT, a group-based assistive technology intervention for older Latino adults with functional disabilities; a $706 thousand NIMH research grant (CFDA 93.242) investigating neuronal substrates governing approach and avoidance conflict in mice; and a $350 thousand firm-fixed-price contract from the Health Resources and Services Administration for outpatient Hansen's disease services nationwide through September 2028. Recent Navy Basic Ordering Agreement delivery orders include tuition and fees support ($41,820 awarded September 2025; $41,000 awarded August 2024), reflecting a 10-year BOA running through January 2034 that streamlines access to UPR-MSC's expertise in neurobiology, cancer research, infectious disease, and environmental health.

UPR-MSC's grant footprint spans NIH institutes (NIMH, NINR, NIDCR, NIGE, NIAID, NEI, NNLM, NINDS), the Defense Health Agency (military medical R&D, CFDA 12.420), the National Science Foundation (STEM and engineering), the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Education, and health workforce agencies under HRSA. Research themes center on neuroscience and behavioral health (approach-avoidance conflict, cocaine-induced epigenetic changes, Huntington's disease mechanisms, HIV-associated cognitive impairment), cancer biology (Rac/Cdc42 inhibitors for metastasis prevention, oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma immunotherapy), microbiome science (COBRE Puerto Rico Center for Microbiome Sciences), and health equity (PR-REACH consortium for Hispanic minority health, PR-CARE for COVID-19 disparities, cancer health equity COBRE). The institution also administers formula grants in assistive technology (ACL ATSG, CFDA 93.464) and Title X family planning services across Puerto Rico, and receives sub-awards from tier-one research universities including Johns Hopkins, Columbia, University of Pittsburgh, Yale, Northeastern, and Washington University for on-site clinical trial coordination, data collection, and implementation activities.

Activity has grown from four awards in 2023 to 46 in 2024, with a recent pullback to 28 awards in 2025 and 19 in 2026, suggesting maturation of existing programs rather than new pipeline expansion. Thirty-nine awards (combined potential value $350 thousand) complete within the next 24 months and face recompete. As a state government entity and educational institution, UPR-MSC does not compete under SBA set-asides; all federal contracts and grants carry no set-aside designation, competing on full-and-open or agency-specific terms. The institution's sub-award footprint reveals deep engagement as a research site and implementation partner within larger, federally funded consortia—serving as data-collection and clinical trial site coordinator under prime grants from Northeastern, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, and others—but the source data does not characterize UPR-MSC as a subcontractor on federal service contracts in traditional procurement contexts. The Navy BOA and three other parent vehicles (an Army indefinite-delivery contract and a CDC contract vehicle) carry minimal task-order activity relative to the institution's dominant posture as a direct grant recipient and research partner, positioning UPR-MSC as an end-user of federal research funding rather than a traditional federal services vendor.