Home > Feature Story

Department of Surgery ranks 24th of 88 programs supported by NIH

Report shows Ohio State in top 27 percent

The latest funding report from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shows that the Department of Surgery at the Ohio State University Medical Center ranked 24th among 88 academic surgery departments in NIH funding received during fiscal year 2005, or in the top 27 percent.

“This report is evidence of our commitment to research in major areas of interest most likely to translate into improved patient care,” says Dr. E. Christopher Ellison, the Robert M. Zollinger professor and chairman of surgery, associate vice president for health sciences, and vice dean of clinical affairs in the College of Medicine. “Our researchers make significant efforts and deserve recognition for their excellent work as part of our surgery team.”

The report also indicates that Ohio State’s Medical Center earned double-digit percentage increases in support from the NIH for two years in a row and doubled its annual funding from the agency in the past six years.

In all, the Medical Center received $86 million in fiscal year 2005 from the NIH, up 12 percent from the previous year’s $77 million. The 2004 total was a 13-percent increase from the $68 million in NIH funding received in fiscal year 2003. The Medical Center’s NIH research funding has doubled since 1999, when Ohio State biomedical researchers received $42 million.

“This consistent upward trend in NIH funding is the result of strategic planning to commit resources into the research enterprise and especially to recruit and retain our most talented scientists,” says Dr. Fred Sanfilippo, senior vice president and executive dean for health sciences and CEO of the Medical Center. “We are making these gains in funding at a time when the competition is particularly fierce for federal support. A 12-percent increase during a period when the NIH had only a 3-percent budgetary increase says a lot about the excellence and productivity of our faculty.”

The fiscal year for the NIH is recorded from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, and the latest figures represent funding received through September 2005. Ohio State now ranks 45th among the 123 medical schools ranked, up from 52nd place in the previous year.

Originally printed in Surgery Today Newsletter, February 2007.