The University Of Utah: How COVID-19 Is Spurring Research On Campus

Press release from The University of Utah:

Andrew Weyrich, PhD

September 29, 2021

As the pandemic began and it became clear it would be a worldwide health crisis unlike any of us had ever seen, University of Utah sprang into action. Researchers across campus were remarkably responsive and nimble: the first thing we did was make sure that our whole community was safe. Starting with widespread communication, we assessed levels of safety for every unit in 18 colleges, schools, and institutes across health sciences, main campus, and the innovation district.

Safety first

Safety was our first objective. Then, almost immediately, we pivoted to say, “How do we leverage this time?” Mainly to create an environment where our people could still keep moving forward on their research as much as possible, but also conduct what we called “impactful COVID research,” which we prioritized during that time. We did that with a significant amount of seed-grant funding. We started with 56 seed-grant projects in diverse disciplines and studies across campus. Everybody stepped up: from the clinical research front to basic science investigation, to applied science, and solution-based initiatives across the entire university.

As of this month, the U is conducting more than 400 research projects related to COVID-19, to study the virus from all angles: from testing and vaccine trials to its impact on vulnerable communities and rates of domestic violence, to the social, psychological, and economical strains COVID-19 has on our society. Our research has appeared in more than 450 academic publications and has been cited more than 5,500 times. To finance the research, $1.3 million has come from U seed funding and $45 million from external funding, demonstrating strong confidence from local, national, and international agencies in our expertise.

Surveillance testing

Long-term implications Associated disease Society and behavior Life circumstances

This press release was produced by The University of Utah. The views expressed here are the author’s own.