For a comprehensive list of research cores on the UW-Madison campus, please visit https://resources.research.wisc.edu.
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The research environment at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, including the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, is exceptional. There are expert scientists in many areas, as well as state-of-the-art core facilities. The ability to easily access expertise within any area of the campus provides an incredible setting for faculty and staff.
The UW–Madison campus encompasses 939 acres with an additional 1,642 acres of off-campus properties and has more than 3.7 million square feet of building space dedicated to research. The campus also has nearly 2.4 million square feet of building space dedicated to academic support (this includes support staff for the research mission).
UW–Madison has long been recognized as an institution that excels in research. In fiscal year 2023 (July 2022-June 2023), over $1.49 billion in extramural research dollars were awarded to the university, of which over $952.4 million were federally funded. In the last 10 years, UW–Madison has consistently been in the top six institutions in terms of total NIH research support. Twenty Nobel Prizes and 41 Pulitzer Prizes have been awarded to UW–Madison faculty or alumni.
School of Medicine and Public Health
The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health has the largest research commitment of any school or college on the UW–Madison campus, receiving over $641 million in extramural support in fiscal year 2023. More than 1,800 faculty members work in 27 departments and 26 centers and institutes, and have active research programs covering virtually every aspect of basic, clinical, and public health research. Existing internationally recognized centers include the UW Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center, the UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (a CTSA program), the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, the UW Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center, and the Waisman Center. New facilities, such as the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research (WIMR) and the UW Cardiovascular Research Center, ensure that UW–Madison will remain at the forefront of basic, clinical, and translational research, ultimately improving the health of the residents of Wisconsin and beyond.
Department of Pediatrics
The Department of Pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health received over $40.3 million in research grants in fiscal year 2024, of which more than $25 million was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The Department of Pediatrics has extensive resources at its disposal to support basic, translational, and clinical research. It has dedicated nearly 35,000 square feet to research. A subset of investigators whose research is cancer-related is located within WIMR, which is connected to University Hospital.
Clinical Facilities
American Family Children’s Hospital
The state-of-the-art, $100 million American Family Children’s Hospital at 1675 Highland Avenue replaced the existing UW Children’s Hospital in August 2007. With inpatient rooms approximately double in size of the old UW Children’s Hospital, the 111-bed facility provides patients and families from throughout Wisconsin and beyond a place to heal in a soothing, child-friendly environment.
A second phase of fundraising enabled the hospital to open a new Pediatric Surgical Pavilion in September 2008. The 37,000 square foot facility includes six operating rooms and two procedure rooms. With a Lake Michigan motif, the pavilion is the latest in operating room design and technology. Funding from operations and philanthropic giving supported a dedicated pediatric imaging unit and a hybrid catheterization lab that opened in 2013.
Our world-class team of doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals provide everything from preventive health care to highly specialized programs. These include a pediatric intensive care unit, an internationally recognized transplant surgery program, a children’s cancer center, a world-renowned pediatric asthma and allergy center and many others. With the growing need for increased space and services, a NICU and Universal Unit were added in 2014. These units will focus on supporting new directions in cardiothoracic surgery in infants and children, expanding pediatric surgery and its subspecialties to include neonates, and the creation of a Neuro-NICU facility.
UW Health
UW Health, the integrated health system of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, ranks among the finest academic medical centers in the United States. It has more than 1,500 licensed beds, 1,800 physicians, and 24,000 employees at eight hospitals and over 90 outpatient sites. Collectively, UW Health serves more than 800,000 patients annually. The graduate medical education program rests on a solid foundation anchored by opportunities in 80 accredited specialty and subspecialty programs. UW Health has long been recognized as a national leader in many specialized fields of medicine, including radiology, cancer treatment, nephrology, pediatrics, surgical specialties (ophthalmology, otolaryngology, and urology) and organ transplantation. The health care system is frequently cited in publications rating the nation’s best medical facilities. U.S. News & World Report has ranked University of Wisconsin Hospitals, which includes University Hospital and UW Health East Madison Hospital, as No. 1 in Wisconsin on its Best Hospitals list for 12 years running.
UnityPoint Health–Meriter
UnityPoint Health–Meriter is a 448-bed non-profit community hospital that provides comprehensive health services for residents of southern Wisconsin and areas of northwest Illinois. It is a major teaching affiliate of the University of Wisconsin. With a combined staff of 3,500 employees, UnityPoint Health–Meriter offers adults primary and specialty care. It is the home of the UW Health birthing service (~5,000 births/year – the largest in the state) and a 44-bed, level III neonatal ICU. The associated UnityPoint Health – Meriter Foundation supports research and education activities that relate to the newborn infant.
Waisman Center
The Waisman Center is an internationally renowned center dedicated to research, service, outreach, and training, all to benefit people with developmental disabilities or neurodegenerative disorders and their families. The Department of Pediatrics Divisions of Developmental Pediatrics & Rehabilitation Medicine, Genetics & Metabolism, and Neonatology & Newborn Nursery have lab space and/or clinical space within the Waisman Center. Opened in 1973, the center is named after Harry A. Waisman, a pediatrician, biochemist, and pioneer in research involving intellectual disabilities. The Center is a 251,773-square-foot complex that encompasses an eight-floor tower, one-story annex, and six-story addition.
The Waisman Center receives support from the Developmental Disabilities Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) for the Wisconsin Mental Retardation Developmental Disabilities Research Center (MRDDRC). The core grant (P50 HD105353) supports the research infrastructure of the Waisman Center through five Waisman Core Services: Administrative Core, Brain Imaging Core, Clinical Translational Core, Data Science Core, and IDD Models Core. These cores provide essential, high-quality services to biomedical, behavioral, and social science research projects for principal investigators.
Clinical and Translational Facilities
Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR)
The University of Wisconsin Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR) transforms research into a continuum from investigation through discovery to translation into real-life community practice, thereby linking the most basic research to practical improvements in human health. The interdisciplinary nature of ICTR changes the culture from “silos” to cooperation and collaboration. Funded by NIH, ICTR represents a novel partnership between UW–Madison (with the William S. Middleton Memorial VA Medical Center) and Marshfield Clinic Research Institute to create an amalgamation of the strong and distinct resources of these institutions, with unique opportunities to enhance the clinical and translational research opportunities in Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin ICTR is composed of the Schools of Engineering, Medicine and Public Health, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Veterinary Medicine. Its programs center around building capacity in translational science by training the next generation of biomedical and behavioral scientists; providing investigators and clinicians with the next generation of critical resources including digital technology and data science; and creating novel solutions to disseminate disruptive innovations to improve healthcare practice. Community engagement and the impact of its programs on health equity and health disparities are a pivotal lens for its work.