SOUTH CAROLINA: UofSC Big Data Health Science Center wins $1.75M NIH award to launch big data fellowship program
The NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has awarded $1.75M to the University of South Carolina Big Data Health Science Center to train junior faculty to conduct infectious disease research using vast amounts of data. Through the Big Data Health Science Fellow program, the Center will provide training, mentorship and 25% salary support to five, one-year cohorts of early-career researchers from across the university.
“The Big Data Health Science Center’s R25 training grant is in accordance with the University of South Carolina’s ongoing transformative focus to have a meaningful and long-lasting impact on our state and our nation,” says Stephen Cutler, UofSC’s Interim Executive Vice President and Provost. “The diverse faculty of this program represent five UofSC schools and colleges who are engaged in cutting-edge data-driven healthcare research and discovery to improve population health.”
“While junior faculty, as part of the generations of digital learners, have the greatest potential to develop their big data health science research agenda, many face multiple structural barriers to conducting big data science research,” said Center co-principal investigator Xiaoming Li. “Such barriers include the lack of protected time to initiate new interdisciplinary big data research, opportunity to participate in funded big data research, and adequate mentoring. As part of the Center’s professional development mission, the Big Data Fellow program is designed to address these gaps and promote big data health science research at UofSC.”