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. 2023 Oct;78(4):845-851.
doi: 10.1016/j.jvs.2023.05.052. Epub 2023 Jun 15.

National Institutes of Health funding among vascular surgeons is rare

Amin A Mirzaie  1 , Michol A Cooper  1 , M Libby Weaver  2 , Christopher R Jacobs  1 , Morgan L Cox  1 , Scott A Berceli  1 , Salvatore T Scali  1 , Martin R Back  1 , Thomas S Huber  1 , Gilbert R Upchurch  1 , Samir K Shah  3
Affiliations

National Institutes of Health funding among vascular surgeons is rare

Amin A Mirzaie et al. J Vasc Surg. 2023 Oct.

Abstract

Background: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is an essential source of funding for vascular surgeons conducting research. NIH funding is frequently used to benchmark institutional and individual research productivity, help determine eligibility for academic promotion, and as a measure of scientific quality. We sought to appraise the current scope of NIH funding to vascular surgeons by appraising the characteristics of NIH-funded investigators and projects. In addition, we also sought to determine whether funded grants addressed recent Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) research priorities.

Methods: In April 2022, we queried the NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools Expenditures and Results (RePORTER) database for active projects. We only included projects that had a vascular surgeon as a principal investigator. Grant characteristics were extracted from the NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools Expenditures and Results database. Principal investigator demographics and academic background information were identified by searching institution profiles.

Results: There were 55 active NIH awards given to 41 vascular surgeons. Only 1% (41/4037) of all vascular surgeons in the United States receive NIH funding. Funded vascular surgeons are an average of 16.3 years out of training; 37% (n = 15) are women. The majority of awards (58%; n = 32) were R01 grants. Among the active NIH-funded projects, 75% (n = 41) are basic or translational research projects, and 25% (n = 14) are clinical or health services research projects. Abdominal aortic aneurysm and peripheral arterial disease are the most commonly funded disease areas and together accounted for 54% (n = 30) of projects. Three SVS research priorities are not addressed by any of the current NIH-funded projects.

Conclusions: NIH funding of vascular surgeons is rare and predominantly consists of basic or translational science projects focused on abdominal aortic aneurysm and peripheral arterial disease research. Women are well-represented among funded vascular surgeons. Although the majority of SVS research priorities receive NIH funding, three SVS research priorities are yet to be addressed by NIH-funded projects. Future efforts should focus on increasing the number of vascular surgeons receiving NIH grants and ensuring all SVS research priorities receive NIH funding.

Keywords: AAA; Basic science; NIH Funding; National Institutes of Health (NIH); PAD; Surgical research; Vascular surgery.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure I.
Figure I.
Study Sample
Figure II.
Figure II.
Distribution of NIH awards to vascular surgeon-scientists stratified by funding mechanism
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

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