For the fourth consecutive year, the Department of Emergency Medicine (DEM) at Yale School of Medicine has ranked #1 in the nation for National Institutes of Health (NIH) research funding, according to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research. In 2024, Yale Emergency Medicine secured $21,816,781 in NIH grants—an increase of over $400,000 from last year—supporting a wide range of groundbreaking research projects.
These initiatives span the entire lifespan, from pediatric to geriatric, as well as acute illness and injury, and include:
- Injury prevention in low- and middle-income countries
- Advancing quality, safety, and value of emergency care delivery
- Innovative treatments for substance use disorders
- Health care simulation technology to address workplace violence
- A pioneering mentorship program for inner-city high school students
- Enhancing health care delivery through AI
“With one in seven NIH dollars in emergency medicine research going to Yale, we are incredibly proud of our faculty, research staff, and grants team who made this possible,” said Arjun Venkatesh, MD, MBA, chair of Yale Emergency Medicine. “This achievement is not accidental and reflects our unwavering commitment to supporting investigators and teams to lead acute care research that changes practice and improves the health of our local communities and around the world.”
The department also celebrates Gail D’Onofrio, MD, MS, the Albert E. Kent Professor of Emergency Medicine, for ranking #2 among NIH-funded emergency medicine investigators. An international leader in addiction research, D’Onofrio is the lead investigator of one of the largest National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) clinical trials: the Emergency Department-Initiated buprenorphine and Validation Network Trial (ED-INNOVATION), part of the NIH Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative.
Her success in training the next generation of researchers is reflected by the impact of her role as principal investigator (PI), with Patrick O’Connor, MD, MPH, of the Yale Drug Use, Addiction, and HIV Research Scholars (Yale-DAHRS) program, which supports mentored career development in addiction and HIV prevention. D’Onofrio also leads several high-impact research initiatives, including the New England Consortium Node for NIDA’s Clinical Trials Network and the NIH-funded SIREN network (Yale-METRO), conducting large-scale phase III clinical trials in emergency and critical care medicine, in collaboration with Kevin Sheth, MD, of neurology.
We also celebrate several other Yale DEM faculty members recognized among the top-funded emergency medicine researchers in the U.S., including:
- Ambrose Wong, MD, MSEd
- Ted Melnick, MD, MHS
- Arjun Venkatesh, MD, MBA
- Kathryn Hawk, MD, MHS
- Samah Fodeh-Jarad, PhD
- Hani Mowafi, MD, MPH
- Leigh Evans, MD
The legacy of emergency medicine research excellence at Yale extends beyond New Haven, with several former DEM residents, fellows, and faculty also ranking among the nation’s leading researchers.
“Yale Emergency Medicine research offers unparalleled depth and expertise,” said Ted Melnick, MD, MHS, section chief for research. “Amid uncertain federal funding, sustaining NIH support is vital—it strengthens our research, advances emergency care, and trains future leaders. This achievement reflects the dedication of our faculty, trainees, and staff.”