U-M Medical School researchers earn $366M in NIH research funding in fiscal year 2009

Results reflect extraordinary efforts of physicians and scientists, and success at obtaining stimulus dollars, in increasingly tough funding climate

University of Michigan Medical School physicians and scientists earned more than $366 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) research funding in federal fiscal year 2009, according to NIH data. In all, the School's faculty brought in more than $435 million in research funding from all sources in U-M fiscal year 2009.

The record-setting achievement cements the U-M Medical School's position among the top 10 medical schools in the nation in terms of NIH grants awarded. The School ranked 8th overall in NIH grants and 3rd among medical schools affiliated with public universities.

These funds, which researchers must compete for against peers from around the nation, enable U-M scientists and physicians to continue to explore innovative approaches to understanding a wide array of questions germane to health and disease. The work they do with these dollars aims to improve quality of life for all Americans, and serves as an economic engine for the region and an investment in our nation's future.

"This achievement reflects incredible effort by thousands of faculty, staff, trainees and students," said U-M Medical School Dean James O. Woolliscroft, M.D. "Our success at securing these awards reflects the creativity, expertise and talent our researchers have been able to focus on the myriad health related problems facing our nation, and the potential impact of their ideas on medical care and scientific understanding of human disease."

"We are especially pleased to be able to bring significant funding to Michigan to help build the foundation for the state's long-term economic growth," Woolliscroft said.

Every dollar of funding brought in by U-M researchers has an economic ripple effect through local spending by the scientists, staff and students whose salaries and research activities are funded by the grants, as well as the purchase of supplies and ancillary services provided by U-M units and others who keep laboratories running.

In fact, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, for every dollar directly spent by a medical school or teaching hospital, an additional $1.30 is "re-spent" on other businesses or individuals, resulting in a total impact of $2.30 per dollar. That means that as the $435 million in funds from all sources are spent over the next few years, they will have a net benefit on the economy of $1 billion.

In addition, U-M medical research discoveries frequently lead to patents, technology transfer agreements with industry, and new startup life sciences companies. In U-M fiscal year 2009, U-M Medical School faculty disclosed 131 new inventions.

The total U-M Medical School NIH award amount comes from 814 different grants. They include research grants that directly support the cost of doing laboratory and clinical studies; clinical cooperative agreements that support multi-center studies of new medical treatments; training grants that fund the graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who play key roles on research teams while pursuing their education; career development awards that help launch young scientists' research; and core grants that support major U-M medical research centers and institutes.

NIH contracts are not included in the $366 million total, nor are NIH grants to other units of U-M. Researchers compete for each individual NIH grant separately, through an application process in which U-M teams vie with dozens or thousands of other applicants from around the country. Grants may range in size from tens of thousands to tens of millions of dollars.

Of the total $366 million in NIH grants awarded to the Medical School in federal fiscal year 2009, $47.5 million were awarded through the federal economic stimulus package known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The U-M Medical School garnered 8.2 percent of Challenge Grants it submitted to NIH under ARRA, while nationally the Challenge Grant program funded only 4.3 percent of some 20,000 proposals received.

Challenge Grants were awarded to fund areas that focus on specific knowledge gaps, scientific opportunities, new technologies, data generation, or research methods that would benefit from an influx of funds to quickly advance the area in significant ways. These grants will enable U-M physicians and scientists to continue or begin projects that explore new approaches to cancer treatment and prevention, the impact of endocrine disruptor chemicals on fetal development, kidney disease genetics, stress as a factor in childhood obesity, and more.

Non-ARRA-related NIH grants for the School totaled $319 million, reflecting a significant increase in awards from NIH base appropriation funding over the prior year. NIH base appropriation funding is longer-term and generally provides more sustainable and predictable funding than ARRA research awards which are limited to two years of funding.

"In federal fiscal year 2009, our researchers brought to Michigan a total of 2.71 percent of all funding that NIH awarded to American medical schools," said U-M Medical School Senior Associate Dean for Research Steven Kunkel, Ph.D. "In terms of base appropriations, our researchers garnered 2.81 percent of all non-ARRA-related NIH funding. This reflects an increase in market share for U-M Medical School compared to the prior year and is further evidence of the skill, expertise, and innovativeness of our researchers."

NIH grants make up the vast majority of all research funds to the Medical School. But other funding sources are becoming increasingly important.

In all, U-M Medical School research funding awards from all sources totaled $435 million in U-M fiscal year 2009, an increase of 3.0 percent from the prior year. In fiscal year 2009, funding from all federal government sources, including NIH, totaled $355.6 million. Funding from industry reached $38.1 million; non-profit organizations provided $33.2 million; state and local governments provided $1.8 million; and other sources contributed $7.0 million.

The biggest NIH grant to the U-M Medical School is for the Southwest Oncology Group, one of the largest cancer clinical trial cooperatives in the nation, which is housed at and administered by U-M. Another significant NIH award to the Medical School is a Grand Opportunity Grant (awarded through ARRA) that is being used to study idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). This Grand Opportunity grant calls for the development of a new network of 10 clinical centers nationwide to procure biologic samples from patients with suspected IPF and follow 100 patients for at least 45 weeks. Each of the centers involved will have the opportunity to retain and hire a group of employees for the study.

SOURCE University of Michigan Health System