UCSF rises to second among top universities in NIH funding

By Kristen Bole

UCSF was the second largest recipient of National Institutes of Health research support in 2008, according to new figures released by NIH.

UCSF received more than $444 million from research and training grants, fellowships and other awards. The figures do not include research contracts, which the NIH will announce separately. In 2007, UCSF ranked third.

In the new 2008 rankings, the UCSF School of Dentistry, School of Nursing, and School of Pharmacy all received the greatest total NIH dollars in their fields, as they have consistently in recent years. The School of Dentistry received nearly $19 million in NIH research support for 2008; the School of Nursing, $9 million; and the School of Pharmacy, $19.7 million.

The UCSF School of Medicine ranked second nationally, with $383.7 million in total NIH research funding in 2008.

The 2008 figures mark the 29th year that the School of Pharmacy has ranked first and the 17th year that the School of Dentistry has held this position.  This is the 6th year that the School of Nursing has ranked first.

UCSF overall and the School of Medicine have ranked within the top four nationally in total NIH funding for more than a decade.

These successes are against a backdrop of increasingly competitive NIH dollars. Only 9.6 percent of research proposals received NIH funding on their first submission last year due to limited funds, a rate that has dropped steadily from 23.1 percent a decade ago, according to the NIH Office of Extramural Research.

“NIH funding has been the foundation of biomedical progress in the United States and validates the quality of the research proposals it supports,” said J. Michael Bishop, MD, UCSF chancellor. “In light of the extremely challenging funding environment, this broad-based support of UCSF research is testament to the caliber of scientific discovery occurring in each of our schools.”

This funding also supports the local and regional economy, Bishop said, via spending by the scientists and staff whose research activities are funded by the grants, the patents this research generates and the related industries, such as biotechnology, that it fuels.

According to data posted by the NIH (http://report.nih.gov/award/trends/findorg.cfm), the top five recipients of its 2008 research funding were as follows.

Overall institutions:
1) Johns Hopkins University ($575.9 million)
2) UCSF ($444.3 million)
3) University of Pennsylvania ($437.1 million)
4) University of Michigan, Ann Arbor ($423.2 million)
5) University of Washington ($391.2 million).

Schools of Dentistry:
1) UCSF ($18.99 million)
2) University of Pennsylvania ($11.5 million)
3) University of Florida ($10.8 million)
4) University of Michigan, Ann Arbor ($10.6 million)
5) University of Washington ($10.1 million).

Schools of Medicine:
1) Johns Hopkins University ($422.2 million)
2) UCSF ($383.7 million)
3) University of Pennsylvania ($366.1 million)
4) Washington University ($350.2 million)
5) Yale University ($328.3 million).

Schools of Nursing:
1) UCSF ($8.97 million)
2) University of Pennsylvania ($7.7 million)
3) University of Washington ($7.1 million)
4) University of Pittsburgh ($6.3 million)
5) Johns Hopkins University ($5.2 million).

Schools of Pharmacy:
1) UCSF ($19.7 million)
2) University of Kansas, Lawrence ($17.8 million)
3) University of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill ($16.1 million)
4) University of Utah ($11.4 million)
5) University of Illinois, Chicago ($8.99 million).

UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. For more information, visit www.ucsf.edu.