About

At the VCU Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, our mission is to foster transformative research, discovery and innovation at Virginia Commonwealth University through excellence in service.

We partner with faculty in all schools and departments as they seek funding, plan studies, establish collaborations, calculate budgets, submit grant applications, negotiate industry contracts, and secure patents and licensing agreements. 

Our commitment to supporting and elevating the research community at VCU has resulted in record levels of sponsored research and has placed VCU among the nation’s premier public research universities. 

Through our passion for discovery and willingness to take on challenges, we continue to advance the work that matters most and position the university as a national leader in research, innovation, creativity and scholarship.

Key research areas

At VCU, we conduct groundbreaking research that enhances the human experience and creates an impact in the sciences, arts, humanities and professional disciplines. 

Our core research strengths include:

• Addiction studies
• Pharmaceutical engineering
• Cardiovascular health
• Neuroscience
• Cancer 
• Women's and children's health

Learn more about our accomplishments and see research highlights in our 2018-2019 Annual Report.

Facts and figures, FY 2019

Research by the numbers

• $310 million in combined awards for sponsored programs for research
• 1 of top 100 National Science Foundation-ranked research universities
• 95th among all institutions, public and private, in total research and development expenditures
• 65th in R&D expenditures among public institutions
• $159 million total federal funding
• $25 million from Gates Foundation
• 1 of 20 public institutions that is both a National Cancer Institute-designated center and has an NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award
• 1 of 54 universities designated "Community Engaged" and “Very High Research Activity” by the Carnegie Foundation
• 120-plus undergraduate research scholars

Commercialization and economic development

• 114 invention disclosures
• 183 patents filed
• 22 patents issued
• 21 licenses
• 7 copyrights
• 70 industry engagements
• 15 proof-of-concept grants

Clinical research

• 862 active clinical research studies across 11 units
• 75 clinical trials
• 5,108 clinical research participants
• 301 VCU-designed clinical studies