October 11, 2006

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — The UC Davis School of Medicine ranked 44th among the nation's 123 medical schools in research funding from the National Institutes of Health in fiscal year 2005, up from 62nd place just five years ago. The school received nearly $87 million in grant awards from the nation's leading medical research agency, an increase of approximately $10 million over the previous year.

“NIH funding is a key measure of an academic medical institution's excellence,” said Claire Pomeroy, vice chancellor for Human Health Sciences and dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine. “It reflects the commitment and contributions of our research faculty and staff to advancing health in both our local community and around the world. Our achievement is a mark of both quality and potential, and I'm very proud of the entire school.”

Medical schools, teaching hospitals and other medical research institutions submit more than 40,000 funding applications to the NIH each year to support basic, clinical and translational research and to help train the next generation of physicians and scientists. Only one in four applications is funded.

UC Davis Health System received 242 NIH awards in fiscal year 2005, totaling $86,885,796. NIH funding represented nearly two-thirds of the total extramural research funding received by the university last year. Overall, the university's external grants totaled $120.6 million.

Programs that experienced significant increases in federal funding include the UC Davis Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of Pediatrics, Department of Surgery, and the Division of Hematology and Oncology.

“Being able to make high-impact medical discoveries requires significant investment,” Pomeroy said. “Two years ago, UC Davis Health System set a goal of increasing our NIH rankings by 10 slots within five years. We're ahead of schedule and dedicated to achieving our next funding goal of ranking in the top 25 percent of all medical schools in less than a decade.”