Glenn A. Halff, M.D., acting dean of the School of Medicine, credited faculty members with increased NIH funding.
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The School of Medicine at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio ranked 46th of 127 medical schools in 2008 in research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), according to an online report posted by Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research.

The report, which included comparison figures from 2006 and 2007, showed the medical school’s 2008 NIH funding totaled $85.1 million. While this level is stable compared to 2007, it’s dramatically higher than 2006 when its $42.4 million in NIH awards ranked 69th among all medical schools.

The report was initially posted Feb. 14, 2009, and was updated March 14.

Growth and quality of HSC research directly related to NIH funding increases
“The growth in our research funding is due primarily to our outstanding faculty members, not only in the School of Medicine, but also across the Health Science Center,” noted Glenn A. Halff, M.D., acting dean of the School of Medicine. “The relevance and quality of their research in addressing problems that we currently face in South Texas is directly related to our increase in NIH funding. The recent awarding of the Clinical and Translational Science Award will accelerate the pathway for our researchers to transfer their findings from the bench to our clinicians at the bedside, thereby improving the overall health of our citizens.”

Carlos Roberto Jaén, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Family & Community Medicine, was pleased to find that his department had moved up from 46th place in 2006 to 21st place in 2008.

Report also ranks medical school departments
The report also listed NIH funding for departments that typically included in schools of medicine. In the case of the UT Health Science Center, some of these departments fall within the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, such as pharmacology and cellular and structural biology. The report did not rank NIH funding for schools of nursing or other health professions, although all Health Science Center schools receive NIH grant funding.

Seven Health Science Center departments ranked among the top 30 in comparison to their counterparts at other medical schools in 2008 for NIH research funding:

• Urology ranked 10th of urology departments with $1.7 million in NIH funding in 2008
  
• Obstetrics and Gynecology ranked 13th with $3.4 million
  
• Pharmacology ranked 21st with $9 million
  
• Family & Community Medicine ranked 21st of such departments with $.5 million
  
• Cellular and Structural Biology ranked 23rd of anatomy and cell biology departments with $6.7 million
  
• Radiology ranked 24th of departments of diagnostic and oncology radiology departments (NIH combines them into a single category) with $4.4 million
  
• Psychiatry ranked 30th with $9.4 million

Department of Family & Community Medicine moves up in ranking
Carlos Roberto Jaén, M.D., Ph.D., The Dr. John M. Smith, Jr. Endowed Professor and chair of Family & Community Medicine, said he was pleased to find that his department had moved up from 46th place in 2006 to 21st place in 2008. “Our new ranking is an affirmation of a culture of discovery and invention that keeps us as a community of scholars inventing a healthier future for families and communities in San Antonio, South Texas and beyond,” he noted.

The report’s figures included direct and indirect costs, but excluded research and development contracts. Editors of the report noted numerous limitations to the data, which they obtained from the Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool (RePORT) from the National Institutes of Health.