WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Buoyed by a $17.8 million increase in funding from the National Institutes of Health, Wake Forest University School of Medicine ranked 36th among the nation''s medical schools in the year ending Sept. 30, 2001, according to just-released data from NIH.
NIH support for the school increased by nearly 25 percent, to $90.3 million from fiscal year 2000''s total of $72.5 million.
"The continued growth in the NIH support of the school''s research speaks volumes regarding the accomplishments and competitiveness of our faculty," said Richard Dean, M.D., president and CEO of Wake Forest University Health Sciences. "I am committed to our continued support of such excellence."
The Department of Physiology and Pharmacology emerged as the leader in winning NIH grants, with nearly $14.7 million in total funding, edging out the Department of Public Health Sciences, which received $14.2 million. Public Health Sciences had been the leading department for several years.
Other top departments included Internal Medicine, $13.1 million; Pathology (including Comparative Medicine), $8.5 million; Neurology, $6.8 million and Biochemistry, $6.5 million.
Public Health Sciences ranked second among 53 similar medical school departments nationally. Physiology/Pharmacology ranked 4th among 100 departments. Other top 20 departments were Neurology, 14th, Pathology, 17th, Radiology, 18th, and Family Medicine, 19th.
Though the largest single source of research support at the medical school, NIH is just one of many funding biomedical research. Work by some investigators is supported by voluntary health agencies such as the American Heart Association or the American Cancer Society, some by foundations such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, some by pharmaceutical companies or other industrial sources, and some by other agencies of the federal government such as the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense or Department of Agriculture. ###
Contact: Robert Conn, Jim Steele or Mark Wright at (336) 716-4587