School Posts Record $14.3 Million in NIH Funding in 2025
No. 6 national ranking in the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research (BRIMR) rankings of dental schools is best spot since 2021.
The UCLA School of Dentistry achieved a record-setting year for federal research funding in 2025, securing $14,316,904 in awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The highest single-year total in the School’s history propelled UCLA to No. 6 nationally in the 2025 Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research (BRIMR) rankings of dental schools, improving three spots from 2024 and matching its best ranking since 2021, when it also placed sixth.
Since the Blue Ridge rankings were introduced in 2006, UCLA has remained a consistent national leader, placing in the top 10 every single year.
“This record-setting year reflects the extraordinary scholarship and collaborative spirit of our faculty,” said Dean and Professor Paul H. Krebsbach. “Our investigators are advancing discoveries that improve oral and systemic health, while mentoring the next generation of clinician-scientists. Sustained excellence at this level does not happen by chance … It is the result of strategic investment, interdisciplinary partnerships, and an unwavering commitment to impact.”
The milestone builds on a year of major research achievements, including the School’s largest-ever single NIH award: a $20.6 million grant over five years to establish a School of Dentistry-led Human Virome Characterization Center, with Associate Dean of Research Dr. Yvonne Hernandez-Kapila as the principal investigator. The Center is advancing understanding of how viruses interact with the human body, with far-reaching implications for oral health, systemic disease, and precision medicine.
The School has a current overall research funding portfolio of more than $32.6 million as of March 1, 2026.
