BWH Research Continues to Grow Despite Standstill in NIH Funding
Like other academic medical institutions throughout the country, Brigham and Women’s Hospital is feeling the effects of a fifth year of virtually flat NIH funding for biomedical research, and, as a result of this ongoing trend, BWH is seeking alternative resources to support breakthrough research and retain the talented minds behind the microscopes.
“The best we can expect is a flat NIH budget in 2009,” said Becky Trask, director of Research Finance Analytics and Reporting at Partners HealthCare. Trask estimates this year’s funding from the NIH will not be far off from the $573 million Partners HealthCare received last year, including $241 million to BWH.
BWH continues to rank second, next to Massachusetts General Hospital, in the independent hospital category for NIH awards. Trask explained that though Partners’ growth is minimal at best, its market share of NIH funding has increased over the last few years.
Overall, the NIH’s annual budget of $28 billion has been held flat since 2003. Compared to medical research inflation, NIH has lost 10 percent to 13 percent in purchasing power, according to analysts, and the number of grants has declined significantly over this period.
To compensate for the shortfall in NIH funding, BWH has turned to private foundations, non-profits, internal grants and state and local funds to support research. Over the past three years, industry and other support at BWH grew by nearly 8 percent, whereas NIH funding increased by less than 3 percent.
“We’re seeing this national trend at the department level,” said Gus Cervini, administrative director of Research for BWH’s Department of Medicine, home to approximately 60 percent of the hospital’s research. Cervini said both first-time applicants and established investigators face diminishing odds in obtaining NIH funding at the current time.
To alleviate some of the financial stress researchers experience while waiting for grant approval, BWH’s Biomedical Research Institute, or the BRI, teamed up with the Development Office in January to jumpstart the Fund to Sustain Research Excellence. The fund was established with generous contributions from the hospital, the departments and the BRI, as well as through philanthropic donations. The program provides grants in the amount of $50,000 for year one, which can be renewed for a second year, to BWH researchers while they wait for grant review and approval from the NIH.
This project helps researchers begin or continue work that would otherwise be on hold awaiting NIH support, but it is not intended to fund research projects completely.
“The grant has been a lifesaver to me because I had a block of time without any salary support, but research to complete,” said Naomi Fisher, MD, a researcher in the BRI who received one of the first fund grants to study the health benefits of a potent type of cocoa high in flavonoids. Fisher’s hope is to take advantage of the fund for an additional year and then expand her research with eventual financial support from the NIH.
All BWH researchers are part of the BRI and welcome to apply for a Fund to Sustain Research Excellence grant if they meet eligibility criteria. Please visit the BWH BRI intranet at http://bwhbri.partners.org/ to view policies and procedures and download application forms. The next deadline is Aug. 1.