College of Health Professions among top 50 for NIH research funding
Five of Virginia Commonwealth University’s health sciences schools and departments rank in the top 15 for National Institutes of Health research funding in their fields among public institutions, according to new rankings from the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research. Overall, six VCU health sciences schools/colleges and 16 departments placed in the top 50 among public institutions for fiscal year 2024.
The institute is an independent, nonprofit organization that compiles annual rankings of NIH research funding to individual researchers and academic institutions.
The National Science Foundation classifies VCU as one of the country’s top 50 public universities for research expenditures. VCU surpassed $500 million in sponsored research funding for the first time in 2024, representing a 9% increase from 2023, and the university’s research funding has grown by 86% since 2018.
“NIH funding is crucial to advancing basic, applied and translational research and continues to result in discoveries and breakthroughs across so many disciplines at VCU,” said P. Srirama Rao, Ph.D., VCU’s vice president for research and innovation. “Our continued rise through funding rankings is a testament to the important and necessary work in the health sciences. My sincerest thanks and congratulations to the deans, faculty, staff and students in our health sciences schools and colleges for embedding research into everything that we do.”
VCU’s School of Dentistry climbed five spots in the Blue Ridge ranking of public institutions to enter the top 10, while the Department of Family Medicine jumped nine spots to reach No. 4. Three more VCU departments – pharmacology and toxicology, psychiatry, and human and molecular genetics – also ranked in the top 15 for fiscal 2024, all driven by significant increases in NIH funding.
“Our Blue Ridge rankings across all of our health sciences and increased NIH funding are a testament to our faculty and team members’ commitment to advancing our mission through research,” said Marlon Levy, M.D., senior vice president for VCU Health Sciences and CEO of VCU Health. “The impact of their research and discoveries makes VCU and VCU Health a destination for our patients and communities, giving them access to the future of health care today.”
Here are VCU’s schools and departments (and their ranking) in the top 50 for NIH research funding among public institutions in the Blue Ridge compilation for fiscal year 2024:
- Department of Family Medicine (4)
- School of Dentistry (9)
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology (11)
- Department of Psychiatry (13)
- Department of Human and Molecular Genetics (15)
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology (21)
- Department of Biochemistry (25)
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (25)
- School of Pharmacy (25)
- Department of Surgery (27)
- Department of Emergency Medicine (28)
- Department of Neurosurgery (28)
- School of Nursing (28)
- Department of Neurology (30)
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology (33)
- School of Public Health (34)
- School of Medicine (35)
- Department of Pathology (35)
- College of Health Professions (36)
- Department of Pediatrics (37)
- Department of Internal Medicine (40)
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics (43)
Story by Madeline Reinsel originally posted to VCU News.
