National Institutes of Health Funding for Surgical Research

Abstract

Objective:The objective was to compare National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding rates and application success rates among surgeon and nonsurgeon-scientists over the past 2 decades. Summary Background Data: Surgeons may be capable of accelerating the translation of basic research into new clinical therapies. Nevertheless, most surgeon-scientists believe they are at a disadvantage in competing for peer-reviewed funding, despite a recent emphasis on "translational science" by organizations such as the NIH. Methods: We accessed databases from the NIH and the American Association of Medical Colleges. Results: Although total competing NIH awards rose 79.2% from 5608 to 10,052, the much smaller number of surgical awards increased only by 41.4% from 157 to 222. There was a small but statistically significant difference between total NIH and surgical application success rates (29% vs. 25%, P Ͻ 0.01). However, the persistently low percent of NIH funding going to surgical investigators was due primarily to the very small number of surgical applications, and to a much smaller increase in the absolute number of applications over time (464 vs. 23,847). As a result, the number of grants per 100 faculty members was more than 4 times higher among nonsurgical than surgical faculties at US medical schools. Conclusion: NIH funding to academic surgeons is declining relative to their nonsurgical colleagues. This trend will likely be reversed only by an increase in the number of grant applications submitted by surgeon-scientists. Structural changes in surgical training programs, and in the economics of academic surgery, may support a greater contribution of surgeon-scientists to the success of translational research. (Ann Surg 2008;247: 217-221)

2015 Presidential Address—Society of Surgical Oncology: The Next 75 Years

“…6d). 7 The total medical school surgical faculty over this time period was noted to increase by 132 %; however, NIH awards to surgical faculty decreased by 47 %. In addition, it was noted there was a growing gap between awards for surgical and non-surgical faculty.…”

Perspective

“…This discrepancy has been directly attributed to diminishing application submission rates among surgical investigators at a time when overall applications for NIH funding are increasing dramatically. 17 This observation may perhaps be explained by the reduced likelihood that a surgeon will have adequate protected time from clinical duties to compete effectively for research funding with those who devote less time to clinical duties. Studies also suggest that improving research infrastructure by recruiting PhD scientists to surgical departments may concurrently increase federal operating grant funding and improve research skills of resident trainees.…”

Successfully Integrating Research into Plastic Surgery Training Programs

“…12,13 To put things into perspective, the mean stipend for a PGY-3/PGY-4 in 2014 was approximately $56,000, 14 and with benefits accounting for an additional 40% of salary, 15 the total annual cost to support a resident's salary during their ADT approaches $80,000. This does not include any direct costs for research expenditures or travel.…”