Duke and UNC receive millions to set up new FDA center. Here’s what they’ll research.
The federal government awarded millions of dollars to Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to establish a new center that will focus on public health research.
The U.S Food and Drug Administration will give $50 million over five years to the universities to set up the research center, which will provide the federal agency “infrastructure and tools to shorten the drug and device development process,” according to a press release from UNC Chapel Hill.
The research center will also collaborate with North Carolina State University and North Carolina Central University.
The Research Triangle Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation is one of five programs like this in the country.
Other FDA-funded CERSI programs include the University of Maryland, the University of California at San Francisco in partnership with Stanford University and Johns Hopkins University.
The universities’ grant application proposed 38 projects on a wide range of research areas like machine learning, pediatric pharmacology, and population science.
“This center will support many joint research projects involving FDA scientists to better inform regulatory decisions and thereby improve public health,” said Dr. Paul Watkins, a UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy scientist who will help lead the center.
Teddy Rosenbluth covers science and health care for The News & Observer in a position funded by Duke Health and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.
This story was originally published July 12, 2023 at 10:21 AM.
