ROI

Saint Louis University Liver Center
Director: Brent A. Tetri, MD

The Saint Louis University Liver Center continues to be a viable entity with over 50 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 more than 500 clinical research patients each month who are involved with ongoing industry sponsored research protocols. Currently there are over 40 active clinical protocols with 15 new clinical trials pending site initiation. Members of this multidisciplinary Liver Center were either principal investigator or co-investigator on over 40 NIH, VA or Foundation grants in the past eleven years.

Over nineteen years of fundraising events, The Friends of the Saint Louis University Liver Center has raised over $5.4 million to support research and education for the Saint Louis University Liver Center.

A total of 49 Liver Center grants have been awarded since 2005 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 49 seed grants that were awarded total $1,633,929, and additionally $169,992 of research equipment and laboratory research supplies were purchased for a grand total of $1,524,435. These bridge funds generated NIH, VA and foundation awards totaling over $29 million. More than 1,000 original papers, chapters, reviews and editorials were published by Liver Center members in 2006-2021. To date, Return on Investment (ROI) for all SLULC grants awarded since 2005 is, 17.5 fold.