Office of Research

Message from the Associate Dean for Research and PhD Studies
Dr. Teresa Kelechi, PhD, RN, FAAN

Research and scholarship are integral to the mission of the Office of Research which supports faculty and students to engage in our interprofessional environment to generate, translate and disseminate scientific knowledge that contributes to providing excellence in health care for the citizens of the State of South Carolina and beyond.

The Office of Research:

facilitates the conduct of research and scholarly activity by faculty and students
provides guidance, assistance and oversight for internal and external grants (pre-award and post-award)
fosters collaborations and interprofessional research
distributes available resources to support research and implements educational programs that advance research and scholarly activity
provides support to enhance dissemination of scholarship

Strategic Collaborations

Working within the only academic health sciences center in South Carolina, our faculty and students lead and partner in collaborative research alliances with colleagues across the MUSC enterprise, such as:

Department of Public Health Sciences
South Carolina Clinical and Translational Research (SCTR) Institute, a statewide National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Clinical and Translational Science Award Program hub based at MUSC
NIH-designated Hollings Cancer Center

As the recipient of a P20 Center Grant, Symptoms Self-Management Center for Pain and Fatigue, supported by the National Institute of Nursing Research, the College is able to leverage technology and bioinformatics to develop and test community-based interventions, for individuals with a variety of chronic conditions. Our global partnerships extend our research and clinical translational and implementation science foci to countries such as India, Africa, and the Caribbean.

Our Scholarship

Our community of researchers share commonality of dedication towards the pursuit of symptom self-management, over the lifespan, inclusive of family caregiving, and with an appreciation of behavioral and technological influences that impact health outcomes. Our science and scholarship are imparting new knowledge to the next generation of nurse and health sciences researchers. Our research interests, as well as active peer-reviewed research programs are, and have been, supported by several federal funding agencies such as:

National Institutes of Health
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Department of Health and Human Services/Administration for Community Living
Department of Defense
National Institute of Justice
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Health Resources and Service Administration
Dept. of Crime Victim Assistance Grants and Violence Against Women Act (VOCA and VAWA)
Veterans Administration Medical Center

As well as national foundations and specialty organizations including:

The Duke Endowment
The David R. and Margaret C. Clare Foundation
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation
New Morning Foundation
Zero to Three
First Steps South Carolina
Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina
Macy Foundation
Jonas Foundation
Warren Alpert Foundation
Yaschik Foundation
Foundation of the National Student Nurses’ Association
TD Bank Foundation
American Heart Association
Sigma Theta Tau
Charleston Research Institute

We actively participate in interdisciplinary translational research with our colleagues across the MUSC campus, which is recognized as one of the top 100 university in the U.S. for funding with over $328 million in sponsored research, including $144 from the NIH.

Funding Portfolio

In FY20-21, the CON funding portfolio included over $5 million in total grant funding across research, education, and practice grants. Of that, more than $2 million was NIH supported grants from the National Institute of Nursing Research, National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute, and National Institute of Mental Health. As a College, we invite and build collaborations with other researchers at both the national and international levels that share similar areas of interests to contribute meaningfully to implementation science.