Office of the Vice President forResearch and Innovation

The VCU Center for Drug Discovery promotes and nurtures transdisciplinary and synergistic collaborations among faculty with different expertise to advance basic discoveries made at VCU from drug discovery and development through commercialization with ultimate goal of advancing novel treatments for cancer, neurologic, cardiovascular, infectious and other diseases. The center builds on existing VCU strengths in drug discovery and medical and clinical sciences to develop a high-productivity and high-visibility center to catalyze development of new therapies from basic research discovery to pre-clinical and clinical development, leading to products becoming licensed for clinical use and to starting new companies.

The mission of the VCU Center on Health Advancement is to improve health across the commonwealth through facilitating research, training a competent workforce and transforming communities through community engagement and outreach initiatives.

The VCU Center for Microbiome Engineering and Data Analysis leads a university-wide, highly interdisciplinary and collaborative effort to study the human and environmental microbiomes while developing novel computational and analytical tools to interpret, present and visualize multi-omic microbiome data. VCU has received a considerable amount of support from the National Institutes of Health’s Human Microbiome Project.

The VCU Center for Rehabilitation Science and Engineering (VCU-CERSE) brings together researchers, clinicians, rehabilitation specialists, and academicians from the VCU Schools of Medicine, Allied Health, Education and Engineering, as well as the Hunter Holmes Veterans Administration Medical Center and the Virginia Department of Rehabilitative Services to promote research, education, physical medicine and rehabilitation services, and clinical care for America's veterans, children and adults with disabilities. This site offers resources and initiatives aimed at improving the health, functional ability and quality of life of persons who experience a disability.

The VCU Center on Society and Health is an academic research center that studies the health implications of social factors—such as education, income, neighborhood and community environmental conditions, and public policies. Its mission is to answer relevant questions that can “move the needle” to improve the health of Americans and present its work in formats and venues that are useful to decision-makers and change agents. It pursues these goals through collaboration with scholars in different disciplines at VCU and other institutions, and by nurturing partnerships with community, government, and private-sector stakeholders.

The mission of the Clark Hill Institute for Positive Youth Development is to empower youth, schools, families and other stakeholders to promote the healthy, safe and otherwise positive development of youth in the defined community from early adolescence through emerging adulthood. This is pursued through the activities of the institute’s Research, Outreach and Education cores. The Research core is focused on developing and evaluating effective violence prevention strategies. The Outreach and Education cores support the Research core and respond more broadly to community requests for information, support, technical assistance and assistance with bringing together stakeholders in a participatory research program. The institute is one of ten National Academic Centers of Excellence for Youth Violence Prevention funded by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The VCU Humanities Research Center provides a forum for intellectual exchange across and beyond the humanities at VCU, traversing conventional disciplinary boundaries and encouraging collaboration throughout the College of Humanities and Sciences as well as across the university as a whole and the local community. The center is committed to building relationships and partnerships with colleagues at VCU and with other institutions in Richmond and the broader region. The center’s mission is interdisciplinary and inclusive, bringing together multiple disciplines and departments; collaborative, fostering engagement among faculty, students and the community; global, in its engagement of research topics that span the world and through collaboration with colleagues and institutions around the globe; and public, in its dissemination of research through talks, colloquia and strategic outreach activities.

The four goals of the VCU Institute for Creative Research are: to partner with local industry for increased community engagement; increase awareness of societal impacts and contributions of creative research; support multi-disciplinary collaborations with partner institutions from within Education City and the VCU campuses in Richmond; and support human capacity development in creative research in Qatar. The unique structure of the Institute, comprised of faculty-led research labs, will advance research, scholarship and creative practice in Qatar through experimental, exploratory and traditional forms of inquiry. The Institute consists of faculty-led research labs.

The VCU Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies seeks to explore the complex problems of drugs through multidisciplinary research and training, with a focus on the neuroscience of addictions and related neurobehavioral disorders. The institute is led by F. Gerard Moeller, M.D., a preeminent researcher with a focus on brain imaging in addiction medicine. Moeller’s addiction research has been funded since 1996 by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Moeller is also director of the Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research and the university’s associate vice president for clinical research.

Approved in 2015, the Institute for Research on Behavioral and Emotional Health (IRBEH) is an interdisciplinary institute with the mission of advancing collaborative research and scientific understanding in the area of behavioral and emotional health, and applying this knowledge to support mental health and wellbeing in our university and the broader community, through innovative coursework, programming and collaborations.

The Institute for Sustainable Energy and Environment strives to address the existential threat of climate change by creating sustainable energy systems and sustainable ecologies, while educating students and working with community partners to meet these challenges. Faculty pursue innovative scientific, technological, policy and social justice solutions addressing the climate and energy crisis. This includes innovations in clean, secure and efficient energy systems, carbon capture and other mitigation strategies, sustainable ecosystems and environmental justice.

The VCU Institute for Women's Health is one of 20 National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health designated by the Office of Women's Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Institute for Women’s Health seeks to improve the health of women through research, clinical care, education, community outreach and leadership development. The institute was created to bring together these diverse activities, generate synergy within VCU and foster coordinated alliances with the greater community.

Massey’s mission is to reduce the state cancer burden for all Virginians by addressing the confluence between biological, social and policy drivers through high-impact, cutting-edge research; person-centered care across the continuum, from prevention through survivorship; community integration; and training the next generation of community-centric researchers and health care professionals. As one of two NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in Virginia, Massey is leading and shaping America’s cancer research efforts. Nearly 150 research members span more than 38 academic departments and collaborate across three scientific research programs: Cancer Biology, Developmental Therapeutics and Cancer Prevention and Control.

The Partnership for People with Disabilities is recognized as Virginia's University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The center engages in interdisciplinary training, technical assistance, research and evaluation, policy, and dissemination efforts that result in communities where all people live, work and recreate together. The partnership relies on partners that include numerous disability service providers, K-12 schools and school divisions, universities and colleges, professional organizations, and state and local agencies. The partnership maintains an interdisciplinary approach to all of its activities which are conducted in three program areas: health, early intervention and education, and family and individual involvement and support. The partnerships with people from a broad range of disciplines allow for the exploration of a wide spectrum of professional services and community interests as the partnership seeks to expand opportunities to individuals with disabilities.

Founded more than 20 years ago, the Pauley Heart Center is today the top-ranked heart center in Virginia, and one of only a handful of named heart centers in the nation. Headquartered at VCU Health in Richmond with outpatient centers throughout central and southeast Virginia, Pauley provides clinical services and community education and outreach programs throughout the region.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death nationwide and in Virginia, and despite advances in prevention and treatment in recent decades, CVD disproportionately affects individuals with poor social determinants of health. Pauley’s mission is to improve cardiovascular care and reduce health disparities for all through interdisciplinary, cutting-edge, clinical, translational and community-based research; training and developing the next generation of cardiovascular clinicians and researchers across all levels of education; and providing innovative and accessible cardiovascular procedural care (both surgical and catheter-based) that is the best in the Commonwealth. Pauley is a regional and national leader in research, education, and clinical programs involving electrophysiology; advanced cardiac imaging (MRI, CT, echo); advanced heart failure, including device-based treatments, total artificial heart, and heart transplant programs; cardio-oncology; high-risk percutaneous coronary interventions; adult congenital heart disease; and exercise-based cardiovascular disease prevention. Pauley also operates top-flight subspeciality clinics and research programs investigating cardiac amyloidosis; cardiac sarcoidosis; and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Established in 1996, The Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics is established to facilitate the development of a multidisciplinary, integrated research program in the Genetic Epidemiology of Psychiatric Illness and Human Behavior and Development in the Departments of Psychiatry and Human Genetics.

The Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research (CCTR) provides the necessary infrastructure and resources for interdisciplinary human health research. Through its cores, the CCTR encourages, engages and supports collaborative participation of investigators and students throughout the university, community partners, and government organizations to work together on innovative research that transforms the scientific study of human health. Researchers from across the university, including the life, physical, computer and social sciences, as well as engineering and economics, are supported by the CCTR.

The mission of the Center for the Biological Data Science is to build an academic community centered on quantitative and computational discovery science and to promote collaborative and reproducible research and education in basic and applied life sciences across Virginia Commonwealth University. The center develops and supports critical infrastructure and core capabilities at VCU in bioinformatics, genomics, proteomics, and computational systems biology. Center faculty apply data science and informatics principles to research, instructional and other scholarly activities in the life sciences.

The Center for Biomarker Research and Precision Medicine aims to alleviate the tremendous personal, familial and societal burden of mental illness by using state-of-the-art genomic technologies to identify molecular markers that can be used to develop new medications and tailor treatment to individual patients.

The Center for Cultural Experiences in Prevention within the Department of Psychology at VCU was founded in 2000 to provide a place, forum and means to promote and conduct culturally congruent and community relevant prevention and intervention work primarily with African Americans and other culturally different groups. Since its inception, over 30 graduate students and hundreds of undergraduate students have contributed to programs and research at the center and engaged in activities with numerous community partners and other agencies.

The Center for Environmental Studies is a focal point for environment research and instruction at VCU. The center provides more than 30 distinguished faculty, expansive offering of environmental training and a geographical information systems laboratory. Faculty, staff, and graduate students in the Center conduct nationally and internationally recognized research in environmental science, policy, health, and technology. The undergraduate and graduate programs in environmental studies are interdisciplinary in nature, exposing students to the critical links between the areas of environmental life sciences, technology and policy.

The mission of the VCU Center for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Care is to improve health through collaboration by:

• Implementing interprofessional models of care that advance patient and population health
• Promoting research-driven innovations in interprofessional education and practice
• Educating students and practitioners to lead in an evolving interprofessional health care environment

The VCU Center for Public Policy is a multidisciplinary policy studies organization, serving Virginia Commonwealth University and its surrounding communities. Its divisions provide a wide variety of services, including professional and leadership training, public policy outreach, survey design and implementation, economic research, and education policy analysis.

The Commonwealth Institute for Child and Family Studies enhances the mental health of children and families through scientific research and the dissemination of empirical evidence. The institute also provides evidence-based clinical and prevention training, offers technical assistance and consultation services and disseminates research findings. The institute is staffed by professionals from disciplines that include psychology, psychiatry, pediatrics, mental health counseling, public health and business.

The VCU Cybersecurity Center (CSeC) CSeC promotes research and education in a broad area of cybersecurity including focus areas of cyber security and resilience, malware and digital forensics, wireless networking and mobile computing, and blockchain and bitcoin. The CSeC hosts NSA/DHS designations of Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Research (CAE-R) and Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD). These designations are managed by NSA's National Cryptologic School along with several federal agencies including DHS CISA, FBI, NIST, NSF, DoD-CIO, and USCYBERCOM. The CSeC consists of three schools (College of Engineering, School of Business, and L.Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs) and four departments (Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Information Systems, and Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness). It has a strong interdisciplinary focus on cyber manufacturing, medical devices, electric vehicles and charging stations, cybersecurity policy and compliance of cyber-physical systems and critical infrastructures, etc.

A collaboration of VCU’s Schools of the Arts, Business, Engineering and College of Humanities and Sciences, the VCU da Vinci Center is a unique collegiate model that advances innovation and entrepreneurship through cross-disciplinary collaboration. The academic and other program offerings of the da Vinci Center aim to create T-shaped individuals: individuals who are anchored in a discipline and have the capacity and openness to span across disciplines. Students participating in the da Vinci Center are thus prepared for the 21st Century workforce as they more robustly approach the innovation/entrepreneurship endeavor through multiple disciplinary perspectives.

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute at VCU promotes the development of current and emerging leaders in academic institutions; public, private and nonprofit organizations; and in the community. Leadership programs are based on the principles of collaboration and partnerships, with a strong commitment to long-term relationships between clients and participants. Additionally, the institute researches and disseminates knowledge on the best practices in leadership. Through its training and public policy research, the institute is committed to identifying and nurturing the next generation of leaders.

The Harold F. Young Neurosurgical Center is committed to providing exceptional and compassionate patient care. Within the VCU Health System, the neurosurgical center will be a recognized provider of comprehensive services whose mission is to integrate clinical research with patient services while training future clinicians and scientists.

The Institute for Engineering and Medicine, constructed in 2009 as an addition to West Hall, houses labs that foster collaborative programs between the VCU College of Engineering, VCU Life Sciences and the VCU School of Medicine. The state-of-the-art collaborative research environment is one of the largest configurable research spaces in the U.S.

The mission of the VCU Institute for Molecular Medicine is to create the next generation of effective preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for cancer, neurodegeneration and infectious diseases. Among the goals of VIMM are to leverage current knowledge of cancer, neurodegeneration and infectious diseases to better understand genes that play a critical role in pathogenesis, to identify molecular targets for developing strategies to diagnose and treat these three disease states, and to transfer discoveries into the arena of clinical research and ultimately into practical benefit to society.

The Kornblau Institute focuses on research broadly related to commercial and residential real estate. These issues often benefit from an interdisciplinary approach and include such concerns as land use, housing and commercial development - the social, cultural and economic sides of the real estate business. Collaborative research seeks to engage other programs and schools such as nursing, social work and government and public affairs, working with various departments in the School of Business. This collaborative approach seeks to elevate the national and international profile of the Real Estate Program at Virginia Commonwealth University.

The Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium is a long-standing partnership between the VCU School of Education and seven Richmond-area school divisions that plans, conducts and disseminates community-engaged action and applied research. The empirical investigations, reviews of literature and other products focus on contemporary educational issues and problems. Findings, in the form of reports, presentations and seminars, improve school administration, teaching, and student learning and motivation, and contribute to professional knowledge. MERC also conducts a wide range of program and project evaluations for schools, agencies and institutions of higher education.

The Virginia Commonwealth University Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Center strives to slow and ideally stop the progression of age-related, adult neurodegenerative diseases with focused “bench to bedside” translational research, to seek community input for our research projects, and to communicate our findings widely to interested professionals and members of the public. In doing so, we hope to become a premier model for improving the lives of individuals with Parkinson’s and other movement disorders, their families and the community by our commitment to excellence in translational research, comprehensive interdisciplinary clinical evaluation, and education and outreach.

The VCU Philips Institute for Oral Health Research carries out multi-disciplinary research focused on infection, cancer and bioengineering of the oral cavity and is supported be several million dollars of annual NIH funding. The goal is to enhance our understanding of oral diseases and develop novel therapeutics and approaches for the treatment of these diseases therefore serving members of the Commonwealth.

Established in 1983, the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Education's RRTC provides resources for professionals, individuals with disabilities, and their representatives. Our nationally and internationally renowned researchers team is committed to developing and advancing evidence-based practices to increase the hiring and retention of individuals with disabilities. Significant areas of focus include:

• Autism
• Competitive integrated employment
• Customized employment
• Employment of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities
• Employment of transition-age youth with disabilities
• Indigenous initiatives
• Pre-employment transition services
• Post-secondary education
• Self employment
• Social security work incentives
• State vocational rehabilitation agency support
• Supported employment
• Transition and court-involved youth
• Transition of 14c programs to competitive integrated employment

Additionally, our supported employment service, Business Connections, has assisted individuals with disabilities for over 30 years in Richmond and beyond by helping them find employment and offering ongoing support. The VCU-RRTC has multiple areas of research and training. For a complete listing of the VCU-RRTC projects, training opportunities, and employment services, please visit our website, VCU-RRTC.

The Rice Rivers Center is VCU’s field campus for research, instruction and training in the ecological and environmental sciences. The center comprises 500 acres of riparian, wetland and upland habitats on the tidal James River and provides access to the riverine, estuarine and coastal landscapes of the lower Chesapeake Bay region. Our faculty, staff and students conduct important translational research that makes good science available to policymakers. On-site facilities include wetlabs, residential lodge, and conference center, as well as a 13,000-square-foot research complex. Although RRC's focus is large river ecology and management, the center works across a wide range of important disciplines that include carbon biogeochemistry, ecosystem restoration, invasive species ecology, climate change, fishery and avian conservation, emerging environmental technologies, and water resources.

The Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health is revolutionary by design. By connecting research, education and care, we uncover life-changing breakthroughs and help them reach patients sooner. Led by director Arun Sanyal, M.D., and advanced by a $104 million gift by R. Todd Stravitz, M.D., a hepatologist in VCU’s Department of Internal Medicine and former medical director of liver transplant at VCU Medical Center – the largest publicly shared gift for liver research in U.S. history – the Institute is creating unequaled capacity for research and innovation. That includes access to extensive biobanks and tissue samples, new imaging diagnostics and biomarker data, core facilities, and technologies not available elsewhere. The institute aims to be a global leader in liver-related research and education, metabolically driven disorders and the care for patients with these conditions.

The Virginia Center on Aging is a statewide agency created by the Virginia General Assembly. Its mission is to define and protect the quality of life for older Virginians so that they may remain autonomous, contribute to their communities and have access to resources for continued learning and personal growth. In addition, the Virginia Center on Aging provides data, resources and insightful recommendations to decision makers (legislators, practitioners, service providers and caregivers) to enable them to make informed decisions about our elderly.