Contact: Ellen Bank

843.792.2626

May 14, 2003

MUSC Departments Climb in NIH Funding Support

New evidence of MUSC’s continuing climb in rankings among the nation’s top academic medical centers was just released by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in its funding comparisons of the nation’s 125 medical schools.

Several of MUSC’s departments ranked in the top 20 in the agency’s report which examines NIH funding support to medical colleges for FY 2002. These rankings are posted on the NIH website http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/award/trends/medschc.htm.

MUSC departments ranked in the top 20 nationally are:
• Otolaryngology, 11th nationally and first in the Southeast with $2.3 million in funding
• Ophthalmology, 15th nationally and 3rd in the Southeast with $3.4 million in funding
• Anatomy and Cell Biology, 16th nationally and 5th in the Southeast with $8 million in funding
• Psychiatry, 19th nationally and 5th in the Southeast with $11.7 million in funding

Overall, during the five-year period from FY 1997 to FY 2002, NIH reports that total support to all MUSC College of Medicine departments has moved up 15 notches in the rankings, from 64th place to 49th place. Or in dollar figures, total NIH funding during the period increased 168%, from $25.3 million in 1997 to the current figure of $67.3 million.

Cumulative research awards for the entire university for FY 2002 total $131.1 million. This also includes NIH awards to MUSC’s other colleges and research support from the state of South Carolina, corporations and foundations.

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