University of Utah Health research funding reaches record $531M in 2025
Dec 7, 2025, 11:57 AM
The University of Utah Health Orthopedic Center in Salt Lake City on Sept. 18, 2022. University of Utah Health this year achieved record research funding totals, surpassing the half-billion mark for 2025, reaching $531 million. (Ben B. Braun, Deseret News)
(Ben B. Braun, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — University of Utah Health has amassed record research funding totals, surpassing the half-billion mark for 2025, reaching $531 million.
“Securing competitive funding is essential to the University of Utah‘s mission of delivering exceptional societal impact. These investments fuel research, advance knowledge, improve health in Utah and worldwide and support the training of future scientific leaders,” the U. said in a statement.
The National Institutes of Health was once again the largest source of funding support, providing $264.1 million.
That chunk comes despite the NIH cutting billions of dollars in research projects under the Trump administration, a move U. President Taylor Randall described in February as an “imminent threat” to the university’s mission as a research institution.
Bob Carter, senior vice president for health sciences and CEO of University of Utah Health, said, “Research, innovation and advancing knowledge is an uncompromising part of who we are as an institution, a culture and a nation,” when the cuts were announced.
Challenges to NIH’s attempted cuts to funds known as “indirect costs” of medical research are currently making their way through the courts.
Carter added that in Utah, National Institutes of Health funding supports over 45,000 jobs and nearly $785 million in economic activity.
Still, the U. secured the bulk of its funding from the NIH, with industry partnerships making up the second-largest funding category at $99 million.
Other federal agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of Defense contributed $57.4 million, and additional contributions from the state, other universities and various foundations totaled $110.7 million.
Dr. Rachel Hess, system chief research officer for University of Utah Health, said faculty submitted $2.3 billion in research proposals in 2025 — a $500 million increase compared to the previous year and a testament to the perseverance of the research community.
Notably, research in the health sciences sector continued its rise, growing 24% over the past five years and more than doubling since 2014.
This year, health sciences funding accounted for 68% of the university’s total research portfolio that totaled $782 million, the university said.
