$12.75M MPower Grant to Spur Biomedical Tech Advances at 4MLK

A new five-year, $12.75 million grant from the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State (MPower) aims to accelerate breakthroughs in biomedical technology and innovations through a collaboration between the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB).  

The grant supports research and education as well as new offices, labs, and faculty at the Edward & Jennifer St. John Center for Translational Engineering and Medicine (CTEM), announced in January. The MPower funding builds upon a $10 million joint gift from Edward and Jennifer St. John and the Edward St. John Foundation to establish CTEM. The center brings together clinicians from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) at UMB and engineers from the A. James Clark School of Engineering at UMCP to tackle health challenges and drive medical innovations, improving treatments for patients and empowering them to live healthier lives. CTEM’s initial work will draw from Fischell Department of Bioengineering faculty but its goal is to involve all engineering disciplines in addressing human health. 

“Heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension are among the leading causes of death and disability in our state, according to UMSOM. Those diseases cause personal impacts on many families, and treatments are significant drivers of healthcare costs, but engineering and healthcare, working hand-in-hand, can address these challenges and improve people’s lives,” said Samuel Graham, PhD, dean of the A. James Clark School of Engineering. “Thank you to our MPower partners for their great support in bringing the Edward and Jennifer St. John Center for Translational Engineering and Medicine to the 4MLK Building, and in expanding our ability to serve the people of Maryland.”  

The MPower funding supports the custom design and construction of state-of-the-art shared space at the 4MLK Laboratory and Office building at the University of Maryland BioPark in Baltimore, opening up new opportunities for cooperative educational programming and research. Already, UMB-UMCP partnerships in health care are propelling medical device development, improving cancer detection and care, and improving ophthalmology diagnostics and the fight against glaucoma, among other breakthroughs. 

“As Maryland continues to rise as a national leader in biomedical technology, we can see the dynamic impact that MPower can have in accelerating disruptive innovation,” said Mark T. Gladwin, MD, who is the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and Dean of University of Maryland School of Medicine. “With this tremendous investment, we are breaking down traditional academic silos and creating a dynamic ecosystem where engineers and medical professionals work hand-in-hand to address the most critical health challenges of our time. In addition, we want to give our students every opportunity to combine medical and technology education. As a result, we are launching a new 8-year BS-MD program in collaboration with UMCP to enroll eligible students in engineering for direct acceptance into our medical school.”  

The MPower investment also supports the recruitment, seed funding and co-location of eight UMCP bioengineering faculty alongside a similar number of UMSOM clinical faculty. Together, they will be able to provide rich opportunities for student education and experiential learning, including the new BS-to-MD degree, undergraduate clinical experiences, co-advising and support for capstone design projects and graduate fellowships.  

“MPower is a collaborative resource, connecting people, ideas, and programs to drive innovation to serve the people of Maryland and beyond,” said MPower Executive Director Adrianne M. Arthur. “Collaborations like this one strategically link our complementary strengths to spark powerful and transformative change, multiplying the impact that each institution could have independently.”   

Visit the MPower website to learn more about UMCP and UMB’s bioengineering and medical collaboration.  

About the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State  

The University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State is a collaboration between the state of Maryland’s two most powerful public research institutions: the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP). It leverages the sizable strengths and complementary missions of both institutions to strengthen Maryland’s innovation economy, advance interdisciplinary research, create opportunities for students, and solve important problems for the people of Maryland and the nation. Working together, UMB and UMCP achieve innovation and impact through collaboration.  

The University of Maryland Strategic Partnership Act of 2016 strengthened and formalized the structured relationship between UMB and UMCP, which began in 2012. The law deepens the alliance and enables UMB and UMCP to pursue even greater transformative change and impact, far surpassing what each institution could do independent of the other.  

About the University of Maryland, Baltimore 

The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) was founded in 1807 as the Maryland College of Medicine, which now stands as the nation’s oldest public medical school. In response to growing social and cultural needs, UMB’s mission has evolved and grown tremendously. Widely recognized as a preeminent institution, UMB serves as the academic health, law, and social work university of the University System of Maryland and is guided by a mission of excellence in education, research, clinical care, and public service. 

UMB is a thriving academic health center combining cutting-edge biomedical research, exceptional patient care, and nationally ranked academic programs. With extramural funding totaling $654 million in Fiscal Year 2022, each tenured/tenure-track faculty member generates an average of $1.5 million in research grants each year. More than 3,100 faculty members conduct leading-edge research and develop solutions and technologies that impact human health locally and around the world. World-class facilities and cores, as well as interprofessional centers and institutes, allow faculty to investigate pressing questions in a highly collaborative fashion. As a result, the more than 7,000 students, postdocs, and trainees directly benefit from working and learning alongside leading experts as they push the boundaries of their fields. 

About the University of Maryland College Park  

The University of Maryland (UMD) is the state’s flagship university and a leading public research institution, propelled by a $1.3 billion joint research enterprise. Located four miles from Washington, D.C., the university is dedicated to addressing the grand challenges of our time and is the nation’s first Do Good campus. It is driven by a diverse and proudly inclusive community of more than 50,000 fearless Terrapins. UMD is a top producer of Fulbright scholars and offers an unparalleled student experience with more than 300 academic programs, 25 living-learning programs and 400 study abroad programs. Spurred by a culture of innovation and creativity, UMD faculty are global leaders in their field and include Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners and members of the national academies. For more information about the University of Maryland, visit umd.edu. 

About the University of Maryland School of Medicine

Now in its third century, the University of Maryland School of Medicine was chartered in 1807 as the first public medical school in the United States. It continues today as one of the fastest growing, top-tier biomedical research enterprises in the world -- with 46 academic departments, centers, institutes, and programs, and a faculty of more than 3,000 physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals, including members of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and a distinguished two-time winner of the Albert E. Lasker Award in Medical Research. With an operating budget of more than $1.2 billion, the School of Medicine works closely in partnership with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Medical System to provide research-intensive, academic and clinically based care for nearly 2 million patients each year. The School of Medicine has nearly $600 million in extramural funding, with most of its academic departments highly ranked among all medical schools in the nation in research funding. As one of the seven professional schools that make up the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine has a total population of nearly 9,000 faculty and staff, including 2,500 students, trainees, residents, and fellows. The combined School of Medicine and Medical System ("University of Maryland Medicine") has an annual budget of over $6 billion and an economic impact of nearly $20 billion on the state and local community. The School of Medicine, which ranks as the 8th highest among public medical schools in research productivity (according to the Association of American Medical Colleges profile) is an innovator in translational medicine, with 606 active patents and 52 start-up companies. In the latest U.S. News & World Report ranking of the Best Medical Schools, published in 2023, the UM School of Medicine is ranked #10 among the 92 public medical schools in the U.S., and in the top 16 percent (#32) of all 192 public and private U.S. medical schools. The School of Medicine works locally, nationally, and globally, with research and treatment facilities in 36 countries around the world. Visit medschool.umaryland.edu