IU School of Medicine No. 13 among public universities for NIH grants in 2023

With a record-breaking year, the Indiana University School of Medicine—the nation’s largest producer of medical graduates—ranks 13th in 2023 research funding from the National Institutes of Health among all public medical schools in the U.S., according to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research.

Collectively, School of Medicine researchers received over $243 million in NIH funding in federal fiscal year 2023, an increase of over $54 million in the past five years. This impressive showing for our medical school, combined with awards to other IU schools, means that IU researchers led more than $304 million in NIH-funded research initiatives in 2023. Among the 27 centers and institutes that make up the NIH, the National Institute on Aging, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases were the largest sources of NIH grant funding.

This performance is a testament to the expertise and creative innovation of our world-class faculty, whose NIH-funded research is directly improving and saving lives in Indiana and around the world. Across our nine medical school campuses statewide, IU faculty members are delivering solutions to medicine’s most pressing challenges—including Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injury, diabetes, addiction, and pediatric diseases—while further solidifying our position among the nation’s greatest and most influential public research universities.

Five IU School of Medicine departments ranked in the top 15 nationally for 2023 NIH funding among all U.S. medical schools, including the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics (No. 5), Department of Pediatrics (No. 9), and Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science (No. 12). The Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences and Department of Radiation Oncology together ranked No. 15. An additional seven other departments also ranked in the top 25 nationally.

Our state's economy is realizing real benefits from this record-setting research. Based on data from a report by United for Medical Research, the School of Medicine’s 2023 NIH funding has generated an estimated 3,142 jobs and $672 million in annual economic activity in Indiana. 

We celebrate these achievements while boldly setting our sights on reaching the top 10 in NIH funding among public medical schools in the next six years. Our progress toward this ambitious goal will only accelerate further with IU’s historic $250 million investment in biosciences research and a growing emphasis on collaboration with leading industry partners, including Eli Lilly and Co., Cook Medical, the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute, BioCrossroads, and the 16 Tech innovation district in downtown Indianapolis. 

I deeply appreciate all that IU’s medical researchers are doing to pursue bold discoveries, to save and enhance the lives of Hoosiers and others around the world, and to advance the economic prosperity of our great state.

Pamela Whitten

President
Indiana University