In the past two years, the school has moved up six spots in the NIH ranking, going from No. 31 in FY2013 to No. 26 in FY2014, and No. 25 in FY2015—movement that indicates a $32 million increase in new net dollars in 2014 and 2015, and places us in top 10 of public universities nationally. The number of federally funded investigators is on the rise as well: we had 12 new funded investigators in 2015.
Three departments—Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pathology and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation—are ranked in the NIH top 10, and the Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology is ranked at No. 11. Five departments have seen significant growth in federal funding in the past year, to include Anesthesiology, Dermatology, Medicine, Neurology and Ophthalmology.
This is an outstanding position we’ve achieved over the past two years, and I believe several key factors have contributed to our successes:
- The hard work of our faculty. The rise in the rankings is a huge step for UAB that, first and foremost, speaks to the talent and dedication of the scientists and clinicians who work in the School of Medicine. Obtaining research funding in this current climate is certainly not easy, and our faculty have been competing better than ever. In the past, we’ve found ways, such as bridge funding and support for departments, to help faculty who are working to obtain extramural grant support for their research programs, and we are working to make those make those programs more accessible.
- Ongoing efforts through the Academic Enrichment Fund. Created two years ago to establish a strategic commitment from the clinical enterprise to the School of Medicine, the AEF has enabled us to invest in the development of new institutes and centers, chair recruitment and faculty growth. It’s also allowed for multiple RFAs for development of new ideas and new research initiatives to offer support for talented faculty here at UAB. Some of these include the Pittman Scholars program, which highlights the contributions of junior faculty, and the R01 RFA, which will support up to 10 investigators to go after a second R01 grant.
- Establishing the five research focus areas. In 2014, we identified five cross-cutting areas—Personalized Medicine and Genomics; Informatics; Fundamentals of Basic Science Discovery; Inflammation, Infection and Immunity; and Population Health, Health Disparities and Outcomes and Effectiveness Research— that would build on UAB’s strengths to make the School of Medicine nationally prominent in research. Each of those focus areas are real, credible area where we can grow our research programs, and I believe faculty are already making great scientific contributions to those areas.