The UAB Department of Pathology, in the Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, is ranked number 12 for the most funds awarded to a United States pathology department by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2025. According to a list by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, which annually compiles NIH funding totals received by academic institutions, UAB Pathology secured more than $20 million in NIH funding for the fiscal year.
“Our department’s faculty have excelled in their research efforts, and the result is an impressive number of grants funded across a vast spectrum of research topics,” said Cristina Magi-Galluzzi, M.D., Ph.D., Robert and Ruth Anderson Endowed Chair in Pathology. “It is gratifying to see our researchers’ expertise recognized with this funding support. I am confident that our scientific discoveries will continue to positively impact the lives of patients.”
UAB Pathology research faculty secured more than $20 million in R01-funded projects alone for the department over the next five years, with one of our faculty ranking among the top 30 funded principal investigators in the country for the year: Sixto Leal, Jr., M.D., Ph.D. (No. 29), Division Director, Laboratory Medicine, with $3.4 million; and two additional faculty members in the top 100: Ming He, M.D., Ph.D. (No. 50), Assistant Professor, Molecular & Cellular Pathology; and Casey Weaver, M.D. (No. 93), Dr. Leonard H. Robinson Endowed Chair, Anatomic Pathology.
“Our collective commitment to research, coupled with the department’s dedicated clinical mission, is what enables us to be consistently recognized nationally as one of the premiere pathology departments in the country,” said Selvarangan Ponnazhagan, Ph.D., Jay M. McDonald Endowed Chair in Laboratory Medicine and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Pathology.
For some faculty the R01 awards are their first, while others are seasoned researchers who host several of these grants at a time. The content areas they span is vast: From atherosclerosis to breast cancer, liver disease and heart failure, to the rare ZTTK Syndrome, secondary mold infections in COVID patients, and more.
The Heersink School of Medicine maintained its overall Blue Ridge ranking of No. 28, with $256 million in NIH funding. Blue Ridge reports NIH funding attributed specifically to medical schools, while NIH RePORTER tracks total NIH support to entire institutions. Using NIH RePORTER data, UAB ranks 32nd nationally among all organizations, with $303 million in NIH funding.
“I couldn’t be prouder,” Magi-Galluzzi said. “This enormous success is a true testament to our team’s resilience and passion for research. While these rankings are a tangible way to measure success, the priority for our science will always be to impact the lives of patients for the better, here at UAB and beyond.”