Fall 2026 Grant Funding Highlights

Dean Diane Santa Maria, DrPH, MSN, ACRN, FAAN, has received a supplement from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health that will enhance a study of HIV and substance use prevention among youth who have experienced sexual assault by developing training and implementation support tools for nurses, advocates, providers, and hotline organizations.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating board has funded the Emergency Nurse Practitioner Education Partnership at Cizik School of Nursing since 2010 and recently extended its commitment through 2028. Learn more about awards to UTHealth Houston schools.

2026 Dean’s Research Awards

Assistant Professor Taichi Goto, PhD, RN, PHN, is assessing a newly approved non-opioid pain medication, suzetrigine, in his project, “Optimizing Selective NaV1.8 Inhibition for Burn Pain Without Impairing Wound Healing.”

Assistant Professor Sheryl Malone-Thomas, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, will use her award to continue her project, “HIV Management/Prevention Independent Study for Undergraduate Nursing Students.”

Assistant Professor Qi Qin, PhD, RN, will study proteins that signal immune response in aged wounds in her study, “SPP1-CD44 Signaling in Senescence-Associated Delayed Wound Healing.”

Grants from the UTHealth Houston Cizik Nursing Research Institute

Hongyu Wang, MD, PhD, uses her grant to explore how and why auricular point acupressure works at the genetic and molecular level with her project, “The Epigenetic Signatures of Auricular Point Acupressure Therapy Response in Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy.”

H. Alex Choi, MD, and Seong Kyu “Bosco” Yang, MD, study epigenetic changes linked to worse outcomes after brain aneurysm ruptures with their project, “Leukocyte DNA Methylation as a Determinant of LRG1 Production and Cerebral Edema Severity after Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.”