Rationale and Objectives
This study aimed to characterize recent National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding
for diagnostic radiology departments at US medical schools.
Materials and Methods
This retrospective study did not use private identifiable information and thus did
not constitute human subjects research. The public NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting
Tools Expenditure and Results system was used to extract information regarding 887
NIH awards in 2015 to departments of “Radiation-Diagnostic/Oncology.” Internet searches
were conducted to identify each primary investigator (PI)'s university web page, which
was used to identify the PI's departmental affiliation, gender, degree, and academic
rank. A total of 649 awards to diagnostic radiology departments, based on these web
searches, were included; awards to radiation oncology departments were excluded. Characteristics
were summarized descriptively.
Results
A total of 61 unique institutions received awards. The top five funded institutions
represented 33.6% of all funding. The most common institutes administering these awards
were the National Cancer Institute (29.0%) and the National Institute of Biomedical
Imaging and Bioengineering (21.6%). Women received 15.9% of awards and 13.3% of funding,
with average funding per award of $353,512 compared to $434,572 for men. PhDs received
77.7% of all awards, with average funding per award of $457,413 compared to $505,516
for MDs. Full professors received 51.2% of awards (average funding per award of $532,668),
compared to assistant professors who received 18.4% of awards ($260,177). Average
funding was $499,859 for multiple-PI awards vs. $397,932 for single-PI awards. Common
spending categories included “neurosciences,” “cancer,” “prevention,” and “aging.”
Conclusions
NIH funding for diagnostic radiology departments has largely been awarded to senior-ranking
male PhD investigators, commonly at large major academic medical centers. Initiatives
are warranted to address such disparities and promote greater diversity in NIH funding
among diagnostic radiology investigators.
Key Words
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Academic RadiologyAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- The Academy of Radiology Research and the growth of NIH support for imaging research, 1995–2001.Acad Radiol. 2001; 8 (Dec): 1290-1293
- NIH and NSF funding mechanisms applicable to interventional radiology.J Vasc Interv Radiol. 1999; 10 (Jan): 1-8
- The current state of NIH funding of research in diagnostic radiology at U.S. medical schools.J Am Coll Radiol. 2005; 2 (May): 436-443
- What we do.(Available at:) (Accessed March 6, 2017)
- Success rates.(Available at:) (Accessed January 14, 2014)
- Research challenges and opportunities for clinically oriented academic radiology departments.Acad Radiol. 2016; 23: 43-52https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2015.10.007
- Enhancing research in academic radiology departments: recommendations of the 2003 Consensus Conference.Acad Radiol. 2004; 11 (Aug): 951-956
- Analysis of National Institutes of Health Funding to Departments of Urology.Urology. 2016; 91 (May): 6-11https://doi.org/10.1016/j.urology.2016.02.029
- Code of Federal Regulations, Title 45 Public Welfare, Part 46: Protection of Human Subjects.(Available at:) (Accessed January 15, 2010)
- Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools (RePORT).(Available at:) (Accessed July 1, 2016)
- Sex differences in academic rank of radiologists in U.S. medical schools.Radiology. 2016; 160950 (Oct 21)
- Women in the radiology profession: data from a 1995 national survey.AJR Am J Roentgenol. 1998; 170: 263-270
- Women as radiologists: are there barriers to entry and advancement?.J Am Coll Radiol. 2006; 3: 131-134
- Career advancement of men and women in academic radiology: is the playing field level?.Acad Radiol. 2000; 7: 493-501
- Women, careers, and academic radiology.Acad Radiol. 2000; 7: 485-486
- Diversity, inclusion, and representation: it is time to act.J Am Coll Radiol. 2016; 13: 1421-1425https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2016.08.008
- Gender and the radiology workforce: results of the 2014 ACR workforce survey.J Am Coll Radiol. 2015; 12 (Feb): 155-157https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2014.07.040
- Assessing the gap in female authorship in radiology: trends over the past two decades.J Am Coll Radiol. 2015; 12: 735-741
- Gender trends in radiology authorship: a 35-year analysis.AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2016; 206: 3-7
- Closing the gender gap: increased female authorship in AJR and Radiology.AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2015; 205: 237-241
- Men (and women) in academic radiology: how can we reduce the gender discrepancy?.AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2016; 206: 678-680
- (Available at:) (Accessed November 26, 2016)
- About us.(Available at:) (Accessed February 1, 2017)
- NIH award expands landmark Alzheimer's biomarker study.(Available at:) (Accessed September 8, 2016)
- Data Book.(Available at:) (Accessed June 15, 2015)
Article Info
Publication History
Published online: May 18, 2017
Accepted:
February 10,
2017
Received in revised form:
February 10,
2017
Received:
January 29,
2017
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
