Eight departments at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine rank in the top 10 in their discipline in a list of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding to medical schools, with an additional three departments in the top 20, according to a recent report.
The rankings, calculated by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, include grants awarded between Oct. 1, 2013, and Sept. 30, 2014. These rankings typically do not include contracts or other specialized mechanisms.
“Our faculty represent top scientists, physician-scientists and innovators in their fields who rely on NIH support,” said Eric G. Neilson, MD, vice president for Medical Affairs and Lewis Landsberg Dean. “These rankings reflect their successful pursuit of scientific discovery, conducted as they mentor and train the next generation to likewise join biomedical research enterprise.”
The rankings record overall funding to medical schools, as well as funding divided by academic discipline. The eleven departments at Feinberg that rank among the top 20 in their area are:
- Obstetrics and Gynecology (3)
- Dermatology (4)
- Public Health (Preventive Medicine and Medical Social Sciences) (4)
- Urology (4)
- Physiology (4)
- Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (4)
- Neurology (8)
- Internal Medicine and Geriatrics (19)
- Otolaryngology (19)
- Cell and Molecular Biology (20)
Another department, Neurological Surgery, will rank 15th after the NIH issues grant assignment corrections.
“Our faculty continue to outperform our peers in securing NIH funding in a national environment where NIH funding has been essentially flat for the past decade,” said Rex Chisholm, PhD, vice dean of Scientific Affairs and Graduate Education. “This is a reflection of the innovative research our faculty perform.”
In the last decade, the NIH – the largest funder of medical research in the world – only funded about one in six of the grant applications it received.
Overall, Blue Ridge ranked Feinberg 22nd for NIH funding among all medical schools in the United States, higher than any medical school in Illinois.