UNLV awarded $20 million grant for health research

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas has scored a $20.3 million grant to lead a health research network involving 13 universities in seven western states.

The five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health was announced Wednesday by UNLV and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

School officials said the project, called the Clinical Translational Research Infrastructure Network, will expand the individual universities’ ability to put clinical research into practice to address health concerns including cancer, obesity and diabetes.

Program director Dr. Robert D. Langer said the grant should help address the Mountain West’s particular challenges delivering health care.

The network will include schools in Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming.