Surgeon Scientists Are Disproportionately Affected by Declining NIH Funding Rates - 26/03/18

Doi : 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2017.12.047

Adishesh K. Narahari, MS, J. Hunter Mehaffey, MD, MSc, Robert B. Hawkins, MD, MSc, Eric J. Charles, MD, PhD, Pranav K. Baderdinni, Anirudha S. Chandrabhatla, Joseph W. Kocan, BS, R. Scott Jones, MD, MSc, FACS, Gilbert R. Upchurch, MD, FACS, Irving L. Kron, MD, FACS, John A. Kern, MD, FACS, Gorav Ailawadi, MD, FACS ^⁎
Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, VA

^∗Correspondence address: Gorav Ailawadi, MD, FACS, Department of Surgery, University of Virginia, PO Box 800679, Charlottesville, VA 22908.Department of SurgeryUniversity of VirginiaPO Box 800679CharlottesvilleVA22908

Abstract

Background

Obtaining National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding over the last 10 years has become increasingly difficult due to a decrease in the number of research grants funded and an increase in the number of NIH applications.

Study Design

National Institutes of Health funding amounts and success rates were compared for all disciplines using data from NIH, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), and Blue Ridge Medical Institute. Next, all NIH grants (2006 to 2016) with surgeons as principal investigators were identified using the National Institutes of Health Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools Expenditures and Results (NIH RePORTER), and a grant impact score was calculated for each grant based on the publication's impact factor per funding amount. Linear regression and one-way ANOVA were used for analysis.

Results

The number of NIH grant applications has increased by 18.7% (p = 0.0009), while the numbers of funded grants (p < 0.0001) and R01s (p < 0.0001) across the NIH have decreased by 6.7% and 17.0%, respectively. The mean success rate of funded grants with surgeons as principal investigators (16.4%) has been significantly lower than the mean NIH funding rate (19.2%) (p = 0.011). Despite receiving only 831 R01s during this time period, surgeon scientists were highly productive, with an average grant impact score of 4.9 per $100,000, which increased over the last 10 years (0.15 ± 0.05/year, p = 0.02). Additionally, the rate of conversion of surgeon scientist-mentored K awards to R01s from 2007 to 2012 was 46%.

Conclusions

Despite declining funding over the last 10 years, surgeon scientists have demonstrated increasing productivity as measured by impactful publications and higher success rates in converting early investigator awards to R01s.

Le texte complet de cet article est disponible en PDF.

Abbreviations and Acronyms : NIH RePORT, NIH RePORTER, RPG

Plan

Methods

Collection of R01 grant information

NIH departmental funding information

Grant success rates

Collection of awardee information

Calculation of grant impact metric

K award-to-R award conversion rate

Statistics

Results

Current NIH funding

Productivity by surgeon-scientists

Grant impact and grant funding rates by surgical specialty

Discussion

Conclusions

Author Contributions

	Disclosure Information: Nothing to disclose.
	Support for this study: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [T32 HL07849, UM1 HL088925, T32 GM007267, and T32 GM007055].
	Disclaimer: This work is the opinion of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the National Institutes of Health.