As one of the nation’s largest biomedical research centers, Washington University Medical Center provides outstanding opportunities for fellows interested in clinical or basic research. Fellows may contribute to ongoing investigations or initiate projects of their own.

Surgical Critical Care Fellowship faculty members are extensively involved in critical care research. Many have multiple National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants examining the basic mechanisms underlying critical illness. In addition, there is a thriving investigator-initiated clinical research program centered in our Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU), and the principal investigator of the NIH-sponsored U.S. Critical Illness and Injury Trials Group is based in the SICU. Faculty members also have funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the James S. McDonnell Foundation for critical care-related investigations. Finally, the SICU actively participates in industry-sponsored prospective, randomized, multi-center trials, and many fellows have served as sub-investigators on these trials.

The Washington University Department of Surgery is nationally recognized for excellence in basic and clinical research. The Department receives more than $22 million in annual NIH, non-federal and corporate-supported grants as well as over $4.1 million in clinical trial grants. In addition, high-quality research in nearly every other area of biomedical investigation is conducted at Washington University. The School of Medicine is one of the largest recipients of funding for research and training from the NIH.