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School of Medicine Vice Deans of Research Geoffrey W. Abbott, PhD, and Eric J. Vilain, MD, PhD
Vice Deans of Research Geoffrey W. Abbott, PhD, and Eric J. Vilain, MD, PhD

Founded in 1965, UC Irvine has rapidly emerged as one of our nation’s leading research universities. The university ended the 2026 fiscal year with $670 million in grants and contracts to support UC Irvine’s thriving research enterprise. The UC Irvine School of Medicine faculty were responsible for $393 million of that total, accounting for a robust 59% of the total research funding for UC Irvine.

As the steward of the Discover pillar of the UC Irvine School of Medicine’s tripartite mission of Discover. Teach. Heal., the School of Medicine's Office of Research devotes its work to furthering biomedical research and innovation. We are dedicated to supporting our researchers to achieve distinction in basic, translational and clinical research to enable discoveries of fundamental biological and pathobiological processes, and novel therapeutic approaches, diagnostics and analytics. An overarching goal of our enterprise is to build a pipeline that enables basic science breakthroughs to be translated into safe and effective disease prevention techniques, treatments and cures for people across Orange County, the state of California, the nation and the world.

Our faculty are engaged in groundbreaking research in each of our four basic science departments and 20 clinical departments. Our aim, and that of the Office of Research staff, is to support researchers in their work. To that end, we have a strong suite of services that offer research support and development through programs and activities that promote research collaboration, data access, community engagement and outreach, innovation and recognition. Comprehensive details are available on the School of Medicine Office of Research website.

We are always available to offer guidance and support, so please feel free to contact us directly.

Geoffrey W. Abbott, PhD
abbottg@hs.uci.edu
Vice Dean, Basic Science Research

Eric J. Vilain, MD, PhD
evilain@hs.uci.edu
Vice Dean, Clinical Research