The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine is home to the world’s top NIH-funded principal investigator.

Jeffrey Krischer, PhD, Distinguished University Health Professor and director of the Health Informatics Institute at MCOM, has a longstanding commitment to diabetes research and to understanding the mechanisms of autoimmunity and disease progression. His NIH-funded research in the latest Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research report totals more than $64 million, making him the #1 NIH-funded principal investigator in the world.

Jeffrey Krischer, PhD, Distinguished University Health Professor, oversees the Health Informatics Institute at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

Dr. Krischer was recently appointed Vice Chair of Research for the college’s Department of Internal Medicine. In his new role within Internal Medicine, Dr. Krischer – who has a history of attracting record federal research dollars to USF – will work with leadership to recruit National Institutes of Health R01-funded researchers. He will also mentor junior faculty with the goal of strengthening federal research funding in basic, translational and clinical sciences.

Dr. Krischer oversees the Health Informatics Institute in the Morsani College of Medicine. The Institute coordinates, analyzes and maintains research data from several international, NIH-sponsored clinical networks investigating the causes and outcomes of type 1 diabetes, including The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY), Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet, and the Trial to Reduce IDDM in the Genetically at Risk (TRIGR). Members of the Institute have funding from industry, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and the NIH for studies in oncology, type 2 diabetes, molecular biology and “big data” (‘omics).

He is also principal investigator for a major NIH data coordinating center that supports the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network, which addresses the challenges of diagnosing and treating rare diseases. The Network includes more than 250 university medical centers worldwide.

“The Health Informatics Institute represents a major focus on new technologies such as protoeomics, epigenetics, gene expression studies, the gut microbiome and metabolomics,” Dr. Krischer said. “We have been able to design and implement an infrastructure to support high performance computing and big data and create a platform for scientific advances yet to come.”

Five faculty members have attracted their own NIH funding in areas related to the main focus areas of the Institute: Rebecca Sutphen, MD, for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer research; Henry Rodriguez, MD, type 1 diabetes; Roy Tamura, PhD, clinical trials design; Hye-Seung Lee, PhD; rare pulmonary disease; and Susan Geyer, PhD, oncology.

“It truly is extraordinary to see the strides Dr. Krischer and his team are making in powerfully organizing, coordinating and analyzing clinical trial data in diabetes. He and his team at the USF Health Informatics Institute have built a second to none international hub for epidemiological NIH research initiatives in both juvenile diabetes and rare diseases.” said Charles Lockwood, MD, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine. “His research preeminence adds value to all the research we do — basic science, translational and clinical — to ensure that it helps improve patient outcomes while lowering costs.”

Dr. Krischer holds a USF Endowed Chair in Diabetes Research and is director of the USF Diabetes Center. He is a professor and head of the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Pediatrics, with joint appointments as a professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and in the Department of Neurology.

Dr. Krischer received a PhD in applied math from Harvard University. Before joining USF in 1993, he was professor and chief of the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Florida College of Medicine. For 10 years Dr. Krischer served as Associate Center Director and Chief Information Officer for Moffitt Cancer Center.