Santiago Schnell (interim chair of the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology) and his collaborators compared the rankings of institutions with the largest amount of NIH research support with the highest-ranking institutions when it comes to support for training and career development.
The analysis showed that, when averaged over the entire 2010 to 2018-time period of the study, there was a strong correlation between training and total NIH research support for the top seven schools. This no longer persisted for the schools ranked eight through 14. The University of Michigan Medical School is consistently ranked in the top five institutions when it comes to T, K and F grants, though its total NIH funding is ninth.
“This was an interesting finding of the study,” says Schnell. “If you are a trainee, you would benefit by training at one of these five ‘super-star’ institutions or at institutions where you are likely to learn how to secure your own independent funding.”
The findings were recently published in JCI Insight, a journal published by the American Society for Clinical Investigation. You can learn more about this study on M Health Lab.