University of Pittsburgh Ranks Sixth in Nationwide NIH Funding
Pitt Moves Up on Benchmark of Research Excellence in 2006
PITTSBURGH, January 15, 2008 – In an era when the federal budget for biomedical research is failing to keep up with inflation, the University of Pittsburgh has improved its ranking to sixth in the nation among academic institutions and their affiliates in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – a universally recognized benchmark of research excellence. Newly released data for fiscal year 2006, shows that Pitt received $447 million in NIH research support, with almost 95 percent of this funding coming to the university’s six health sciences schools (Medicine, Public Health, Dental Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Health and Rehabilitation Sciences). In addition, Pitt ranks fourth nationally in the number of individual grants received.
Pitt moved into the top 10 tier of institutions in 1997 and has maintained its position among this elite group in the decade since. The university was ranked seventh in funding in fiscal year 2005.
“NIH ranking is the only objective metric that we have in a nationally competitive, peer-reviewed context,” said Arthur S. Levine, MD, senior vice chancellor, health sciences, and dean, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. “While it is very difficult to measure the quality of education or the true quality of patient care, such a ranking means that we are well positioned to attract high quality students and residents, excellent faculty, and to offer superb patient care.”
The upward shift in ranking is especially impressive considering that NIH budgets have flattened in recent years following a period of steady growth. “In 2006, NIH experienced its first budget cut since 1970, resulting in a 13 percent loss of research purchasing power since 2003, while grant applications have doubled since 1998,” Dr. Levine noted.
The University of Pittsburgh’s ranking encompasses 1,082 individual grants to faculty members for a total of more than $447 million. The majority of these awards are to the university’s medical school faculty, including those faculty associated with affiliates such as Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the Magee-Womens Research Institute. Pitt is one of more than 3,000 entities receiving NIH support.
“The University of Pittsburgh’s emergence as one of the country’s most important medical research centers during the past decade did not take place by accident,” continued Dr. Levine. “With the support of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), the university and the community, there has been a deliberate, concerted effort to invest in building an infrastructure that fosters the rapid growth of medical research, coupled with the active recruitment of some of the world’s leading biomedical scientists. Even so, we cannot rest on our laurels, but must forge ahead with new investment and innovation.”
The top 10 research-intensive universities (including affiliates) in the United States in 2006 were: Harvard University; Johns Hopkins University; the University of Pennsylvania; the University of California, San Francisco; the University of Washington; the University of Pittsburgh; the University of California, Los Angeles; Duke University; the University of Michigan; and Washington University. In number of NIH grants received, Pitt trailed only Harvard, Johns Hopkins and the University of Pennsylvania.
The University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences include the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Dental Medicine, Pharmacy, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and the Graduate School of Public Health. The schools serve as the academic partner to UPMC. Together, their combined mission is to train tomorrow’s health care specialists and biomedical scientists, engage in groundbreaking research that will advance understanding of the causes and treatments of disease, and participate in the delivery of outstanding patient care.
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