Longitudinal analysis of National Institutes of Health funding for academic thoracic surgeons

Abstract

Objective: National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for academic (noncardiac) thoracic surgeons at the top-140 NIH-funded institutes in the United States was assessed. We hypothesized that thoracic surgeons have difficulty in obtaining NIH funding in a difficult funding climate.

Methods: The top-140 NIH-funded institutes' faculty pages were searched for noncardiac thoracic surgeons. Surgeon data, including gender, academic rank, and postfellowship training were recorded. These surgeons were then queried in NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools Expenditures and Results for their funding history. Analysis of the resulting grants (1980-2019) included grant type, funding amount, project start/end dates, publications, and a citation-based Grant Impact Metric to evaluate productivity.

Results: A total of 395 general thoracic surgeons were evaluated with 63 (16%) receiving NIH funding. These 63 surgeons received 136 grants totaling $228 million, resulting in 1772 publications, and generating more than 50,000 citations. Thoracic surgeons have obtained NIH funding at an increasing rate (1980-2019); however, they have a low percentage of R01 renewal (17.3%). NIH-funded thoracic surgeons were more likely to have a higher professorship level. Thoracic surgeons perform similarly to other physician-scientists in converting K-Awards into R01 funding.

Conclusions: Contrary to our hypothesis, thoracic surgeons have received more NIH funding over time. Thoracic surgeons are able to fill the roles of modern surgeon-scientists by obtaining NIH funding during an era of increasing clinical demands. The NIH should continue to support this mission.

Keywords: NIH funding; basic science research; grants; thoracic surgery research.

Figure 1:

A) Total number of National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded non-cardiac thoracic surgeons (red) and total number of non-cardiac thoracic surgeons (blue) at each of the top 140 NIH-funded institutions. Each group was analyzed by simple linear regression (both P < 0.0001). B) Total number of unfunded non-cardiac thoracic surgeons (gold) and total number of non-cardiac thoracic surgeons (blue) at each of the top 140 NIH-funded institutions. Each group was analyzed by simple linear regression (both P < 0.0001).

Figure 2:

Breakdown of National Institutes of Health grant types awarded to thoracic surgeons.

Figure 3:

A) The cumulative number of grants awarded to thoracic surgeons is shown at each of the top 140 National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded institutions. B) The total amount of funding (in $Millions) of the grants awarded to thoracic surgeons is shown at each of the top 140 NIH-funded institutions. Each group was analyzed by simple linear regression (both P < 0.0001).

Figure 4:

A) The number of all active grants (blue) in each year and the number of active R01s (red) active in each year to currently active thoracic surgeons are shown (both P < 0.0001 by simple linear regression). B) The number of all new awards (blue) made (does not include competitive renewals) and the number of new R01 (red) awards made to currently active thoracic surgeons each year are shown (both P < 0.0001).

Figure 5:

The conversion from F32 awards to K-Awards to R01 awards is shown. A total of 5 thoracic surgeons were able to convert their postdoctoral F32 award into a junior investigator K-Award whereas 2 investigators converted directly from an F32 award into an independent investigator R01. A total of 9 thoracic surgeons were able to convert their junior investigator mentored K-Awards into independent investigator R01 awards. Three thoracic surgeons were able to obtain all three funding modalities.

Central Picture:

Academic thoracic surgeons have continued to receive an increasing number of NIH grants.