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Emory rises in rankings of federal research funding, research group says

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Emory University received more federal research dollars from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) than ever before and continued to climb in an independent ranking of peer institutions.

The Fiscal Year 2020 rankings from the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research compare schools and departments across the United States on the basis of NIH funding.

Overall, Emory rose to 18th in the nation pulling in $507 million in funding. That’s up from 19th the year before, when it attracted $382 million.

About 20 percent of Emory’s FY2020 NIH funding supported research related to COVID-19.

“The growing support from NIH demonstrated in these rankings underscores the high quality of research taking place at Emory,” says David Stephens, MD, vice president for research at Emory’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center and chair of the department of medicine in the School of Medicine.

“That work that has only intensified in these challenging times. Emory has helped to lead the way in battling COVID, testing and developing vaccines and therapeutics as well as cutting-edge diagnostics. All the while, researchers have continued on with other important work aimed at improving citizens’ health and wellbeing.”

Funding highlights for individual schools:

  • The School of Medicine: 14th in the nation with $395.2 million
  • The School of Nursing : 5th in the nation with $9.3 million
  • Rollins School of Public Health: 4th in the nation with $58.9 million

Within the School Medicine, which saw its ranking rise from 19th last year, the Department of Pediatrics was the top-ranked program, leading the nation in NIH funding.

Among the basic science departments:

  • Biomedical Engineering: 3rd
  • Microbiology and Immunology: 14th
  • Genetics: 15th

Among the clinical science departments:

  • Pathology and Laboratory Medicine: 6th
  • Surgery: 10th
  • Neurology: 12th
  • Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation: 15th
  • Radiology and Radiation Oncology: 15th
  • Internal Medicine: 16th
  • Urology: 17th
  • Neurosurgery: 18th

The NIH is the largest source of funding for biomedical research in the world. In fiscal year 2020, the federal government was Emory's largest research sponsor and the NIH accounted for 85 percent of federal funds from the sector.


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