The Saint Louis University Liver Center continues to be a viable entity with over 40 members, regular conferences and a funding source for clinical and basic investigation within the University. Both clinical and basic research activities are active.  The GI/Hepatology Clinical Studies Unit sees between 125 and 130 clinical research patients each month for ongoing research protocols and in FY ’07 and ‘08, we had over 40 active clinical industry funded protocols. Members of this multidisciplinary Liver Center were either principal investigator or co-investigator on 39 NIH, VA or Foundation grants in FY ’07 and ‘08. Over five years of fundraising events, The Friends of the Saint Louis University Liver Center organization has raised $1.6 million to support research and education for the Saint Louis University Liver Center. A total of eleven Liver Center grants have been awarded over the past three years through an RFA process. These directed research grants were established to provide bridge funding to Liver Center investigators while they work toward developing their projects, gathering preliminary data allowing them to submit NIH grant applications and publish their results. The 11 grants that were awarded total $360,000. These bridge funds generated seven NIH, VA and foundation awards totaling $5,543,550, which represents more than a 17 fold return on investment. More than 120 original papers, chapters, reviews and editorials were published by Liver Center members in FY07-08.

ROI figures (PDF 43kb)