Annual Report

RESEARCH EXCELLENCE

Great expectorations

VCU’s Spit for Science initiative began collecting data in fall 2024 for the first time since 2021 – one test tube (of spit) at a time. Karen Chartier, Ph.D., associate professor, leads the initiative as part of her role as director of the Institute for Research on Behavioral and Emotional Health.

Spit for Science is the nation’s largest genetic and environmental study of college students with more than 13,000 students having participated since 2011. Data has been used in hundreds of projects and studies, with numerous interdisciplinary working groups exploring topics such as protective factors that promote positive outcomes for LGBTQIA+ students, traumatic stress and mental health, and substance use disorder and recovery.

“... Making this data readily available … feeds our undergraduate research programs, supports the interests of many VCU faculty and connects us with researchers across the country and the world,” Chartier says. 

⇨ Learn more

$2M interdisciplinary SAMHSA grant

Gary Cuddeback, Ph.D., dean and professor, is helping lead a five-year, $2 million project to provide drug treatment, employment, housing, case management and peer support for people with substance use disorders and co-occurring mental illnesses who are involved in the criminal justice system. The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is funding the initiative, which includes researchers from two additional VCU academic schools.

Project ReConnect is serving 275 individuals currently incarcerated in the Chesterfield County (Virginia) Jail and who are participants of its HARP program – Helping Addicts Recover Progressively – as well as individuals who are receiving services from REAL Life, a community-based substance use treatment and re-entry organization in Richmond.

⇨ Learn more

Additional awards & funding

• Yifan Lou, Ph.D., assistant professor, has received a $20,000 research grant from the Borchard Center Foundation of Law and Aging for the project “Harmony in Decision-making: Balancing Individual Rights and Family Roles in Advance Care Planning among Chinese Americans.”
• Kyeongmo Kim, Ph.D., associate professor, and Youngmi Ki, Ph.D., professor, both received VCU Global Partnership Impact Awards for 2025-2026.
• Denise Burnette, Ph.D., professor; Nicole Corley, Ph.D., associate professor; Maurice Gattis, Ph.D., associate professor; and Youngmi Kim, Ph.D., professor, all received VCU Global Learning Program Development Awards for 2025-2026.

_{Accessible version of research data points}