DMS sets record for one-year jump in grant funding
Dartmouth Medical School experienced its biggest-ever increase in research funding, with a 38% jump from $80.8 million in fiscal year 2001 to $111.1 million in 2002. The Department of Community and Family Medicine attracted the largest share of the total—$18.8 million, a 22% increase. Grants to the Department of Microbiology almost doubled, from $6.6 million to $11.6 million, while Pediatrics more than tripled its research funding, from $3 million to over $9 million.
Support: "This is an exciting time for the Medical School," notes Acting Dean Ethan Dmitrovsky, M.D. "We have outstanding faculty who are capturing substantial funding support."
The last time there was a percentage increase nearly this big was 12 years ago, when funding rose 36%, from $25 million in 1989 to $34 million in 1990. DMS's research income has more than doubled since 1997, when the total was $53.3 million.
More than 60% of DMS's funding comes from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). DMS ranks above the 50th percentile in total dollars awarded by the NIH and is between the 80th and 90th percentiles in funding per basic science faculty member. In addition to the NIH, grants come from other federal agencies, state governments, and corporations and foundations.
DMS accounted for 71% of Dartmouth College's $156.9 million in external funding in fiscal year 2002 (July 1, 2001-June 30, 2002). With a 22% increase in grants, this was the most successful year ever for the College as a whole, too.
"The tremendous increase in sponsored research can be credited to the enormous success of our faculty in getting awards in a highly competitive environment," says Nancy Wray, the director of Dartmouth's Office of Sponsored Projects. Dartmouth's growth was "the highest among the Ivies," she adds.
Susan Knapp
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