U. ranks 3rd in NIH funding

In Nagano, Japan, it would be a bronze. In the United States, the University's No. 3 ranking in total research funding from the National Institutes of Health comes without a medal. Not that Penn officials are complaining. The University's $217 million in NIH funding trailed only Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the University of Washington system for fiscal year 1997, according to a recent compilation of these statistics. NIH funding, which is generally difficult to get, is considered a benchmark of quality for research institutions. Penn Vice Provost for Research Ralph Amado called the rankings "wonderful." "The faculty are to be greatly applauded for their efforts," Amado said yesterday. "Credit [for the ranking] goes to the individual researchers." The University moved up one spot from last year's fourth-place ranking on the strength of a $31 million increase in NIH funding over fiscal year 1996. The increase was mostly due to a $25 million rise in funding for the Medical School, which jumped from fifth to third in the rankings. Amado attributed the $175.2 million the Medical School received to "the faculty working very, very hard." He also applauded the efforts of William Kelley, dean of the Medical School and head of the Health System. The Nursing School's No. 1 ranking was the highest of any school at Penn. The school moved up one place from last year. Nursing Dean Norma Lang said the climb is "the measurable outcome of recruiting the best faculty and the best students." "[The news] is probably one of the greatest pleasures," Lang said. "It's like getting an A-plus." The Nursing School has steadily climbed in the national rankings, surpassing schools of nursing at the University of Washington and the University of California-San Francisco over the last five years. That climb is a result of the Nursing School's status as a leading center of research, according to Barbara Medoff-Cooper, director of the Center for Nursing Research. She cited research into the impact of hospital restructuring on the quality of patient care, AIDS research and research into home care for the elderly as some of the programs at the Nursing School with high levels of funding. The University has made high rankings in NIH funding a strategic priority, according to Lang. Indeed, University President Judith Rodin described the rankings as another sign that "Penn is really accelerating in terms of its goals." The NIH is the single largest source of research funding at the University, which received a total of $351 million in research funding during fiscal year 1997. Eighty percent of that funding came from the federal government, according to Amado.