UC San Francisco professional schools rank at or near the top in National Institutes of Health resea

By Bill Gordon

The University of California, San Francisco ranked as the fourth largest recipient of National Institutes of Health research funds among all institutions in 2001, receiving $350.4 million in the highly competitive process.
Total NIH research funding to UCSF increased more than $29 million last year, according to the recently announced rankings.
The UCSF School of Dentistry and UCSF School of Pharmacy continue to rank number one in NIH research funding, and the UCSF School of Nursing maintains its second place ranking among peer institutions.  The UCSF School of Medicine moved up to become the third largest recipient of NIH funding among all medical schools, one place higher than the previous year.

The UCSF School of Dentistry has long been the largest recipient of NIH funding among all dental schools, receiving 47 awards in 2001 for a total of $17.6 million.
Other dental schools in the top five are the following: University of Washington ($11.9 million/33 awards); University of Michigan ($9.6 million/43 awards), University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill ($9.2 million/28 awards), and University of Pennsylvania ($8.9 million/37 awards).

The UCSF School of Pharmacy also routinely ranks first in NIH-research funding for pharmacy schools and received 47 awards in 2001 for a total of $18.5 million.
Other pharmacy schools in the top five are the following: University of Utah ($12.3 million/35 awards), University of Arizona ($9.1/18 awards), University of Kansas ($8.44 million/24 awards), and University of Illinois-Chicago ($8.39 million/24 awards).

The UCSF School of Nursing received 33 awards in 2001 for a total of $9.6 million, making it the second largest recipient of NIH research funding among all nursing schools.

The top five schools of nursing are the following: University of Washington ($12 million/32 awards), UCSF ($9.6 million/33 awards), University of Illinois-Chicago ($7 million/28 awards), University of Pennsylvania ($5.8 million/22 awards), and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill ($5.5 million/21 awards).

The UCSF School of Medicine became the third largest recipient of National Institutes of Health research funds among all medical schools in 2001, receiving 611 awards totaling $303.2 million.  (The NIH previously announced 2001 medical school rankings that erroneously included total funding for both schools of medicine and their affiliated schools of dentistry.  The UCSF School of Medicine previously was reported as the third-ranked recipient of NIH funding and remains the third largest recipient based on the corrected totals.)

NIH research funding to the UCSF School of Medicine increased by nearly $53 million last year, moving the school up from fourth position in the 2000 fiscal year rankings.

The UCSF School of Medicine always has been among the top four recipients of NIH research funding and earned the top ranking for 13 consecutive years from 1978 to 1991, when space constraints left faculty researchers unable to compete for some grants simply for lack of laboratory space.  With occupancy of the first laboratory building at the new UCSF Mission Bay research and teaching campus less than a year away and the recruitment of key new faculty members, some of the constraints are easing.

Opportunities for additional research funding are expected to grow along with the construction of the new UCSF Mission Bay campus and the re-development of existing campus sites.  Over the next 20 years, the campus plans to construct 2.65 million square feet of new laboratory, classroom, and support space at UCSF Mission Bay, doubling the amount of research space on current campus sites.  About half of that space will be built in the next few years as part of the first phase of the Mission Bay plan.

The top five medical schools in NIH-funded research for the 2001 fiscal year are the following: John Hopkins University ($337.3 million/866 awards), University of Pennsylvania ($318.8 million/757 awards), UCSF ($303.2 million/611 awards), Washington University, Saint Louis ($289.5 million/683 awards), and Yale University ($227.6 million/638 awards).