About Internal Medicine Research

The University of Utah Department of Internal Medicine (IM) is in the top third of the country for National Institutes of Health research funding (#34 of 115 departments of medicine). IM faculty UU research grants and contracts total about $71M for all funding sponsors, with an additional estimated $9M from the University’s affiliated VA Salt Lake City Health Care System. 

Internal Medicine is the largest department on the University of Utah campus, with 600 faculty and 12 subspecialty divisions.  IM faculty also support the programs of the affiliated VA Salt Lake City Health Care System.  A major commitment to research and research career development has been a central feature of the department’s success and impact since its inception. Dr. Maxwell Wintrobe, Founding Chair, and colleagues in the Department received the first extramural NIH award ever granted.

Internal Medicine is in the top third of the country for National Institutes of Health research funding (#34 of 115 departments of medicine).  IM faculty research grants and contracts total $78M, including those at the University of Utah and the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System, with 70% of total funding coming from federal sources. 

IM faculty collaborate with investigators across the campus, and many faculty hold joint or adjunct appointments in basic science departments and programs.  There are particularly close interactions between Internal Medicine and the new Department of Population Health Sciences.  IM faculty direct major projects and hold key leadership positions in research centers, institutes and programs on campus.  Those include the Center for Clinical & Translational Science, the Diabetes and Metabolism Research Center, Huntsman Cancer Institute, the Immunology, Inflammation and Infectious Disease Initiative, the Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute (CVRTI), the interdepartmental Molecular Medicine Program, the Program in Personalized Health, and the Utah Genome Project.  Department faculty also lead a recently-funded American Heart Association (AHA) strategically focused Heart Failure Research Network.

At the affiliated VA Salt Lake City Health Care System, IM faculty are leaders and investigators in the Informatics, Decision-Enhancement and Analytic Science (IDEAS) Center and the Geriatrics Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC).

Academic and research career development is a priority for IM and the department has a tradition of excellence in this area.  IM faculty direct 5 of the University of Utah’s 11 NIH institutional Training Grant (T32) Programs; an ABIM-approved physician-scientist track, the Physician Scientist Training Program, is embedded in IM’s residency program; IM provides a global mentoring program for its early stage faculty; and the department participates in the University of Utah Vice President’s Clinical & Translational Research Scholars Program.