UNM is set to receive a grant for more than $1 million to strengthen training against bioterrorism for state health care professionals.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reviewed 104 grant proposals, 19 of which will receive funds, said Laura Banks, one of the UNM proposal's co-authors.
Health and Human Services "has released a list of those who will get the funds, but we have not received official notice yet," Banks said.
Banks is a program coordinator in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Health Sciences Center.
Michael Richards, an assistant professor in emergency medicine and UNM's principal investigator on the project, was traveling Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.
Health and Human Services reviews proposals, decides at what level to fund them, then details necessary changes to the institutions applying for money, she Banks.
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In UNM's case, the amended proposal goes to the University controller for final approval before funds are dispersed.
Banks said the University will receive slightly less than it asked for, and she expects the money in a matter of days.
A spokesman from the office of Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said the University "can expect an award letter within the week."
Udall announced the grant on Sept. 12. UNM will receive $1,140,565, according to Health and Human Services.
Among other institutions receiving the grant are the University of Louisville, the Saint Vincent Foundation and the Yale New Haven Health System.
The UNM proposal went in at the end of June, Banks said.
"We had to move fast," Banks said. "It was a month of intensive effort from four or five of us. And to be one of only 19 accepted, I think that's pretty cool."
The program has five tentative training goals:
l To provide bioterrorism prevention training for "frontline" health care professionals including primary care and specialty physicians, nurses, pharmacists and veterinarians.
l To train health care providers all over New Mexico and the Navajo Nation using traditional methods and distance-learning technologies such as the Internet.
l To team up with the New Mexico State University Border Epidemiology and Environmental Health Center and Indian Health Center for training medically under-served and rural areas of the state.
l To use resources at the Health Sciences Center in providing current information to the rest of the state aimed at responding to bioterrorism.
l To have an annual conference and to train several experts in bioterrorism prevention across the state.
