<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=799546403794687&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Colorado mountains

ColoradoSPH Rises in NIH Funding Rankings to the Top 20 in Public Health

minute read

Each year, the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research tracks annual National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and publishes rankings across schools of health disciplines, including schools of public health. In 2021, ColoradoSPH rose into the top 20 tier of schools, coming in at 18 in the rankings, reflecting an almost $20 million increase in federal funding. This was a large jump from 2020 when the school ranked 23rd with just over $10 million in NIH funding. 

Year over year, ColoradoSPH increased NIH funding by $8,945,111—the third largest funding increase of any school of public health, behind only Columbia and Brown Universities. In addition, the increase of five spots in ranking was the largest increase of any school of public health that finished in the top 20 schools. Overall, the increase in funding amounted to 83.08%, the highest percentage increase of any school that received funding in excess of the mean funding amount among all schools of public health.  

Cathy Bradley, Associate Dean for Research at ColoradoSPH, congratulated her colleagues on such a remarkable achievement, noting that their research will make important contributions to public health. “I look forward to the findings from these public health studies and the continued growth of the NIH portfolio.”  

In fiscal year 2021, ColoradoSPH received 32 NIH awards, compared to 26 in fiscal year 2020. Awards contributing to the overall funding included:  

  • The Impact of Drought on Arsenic Exposure and Cardiometabolic Outcomes in a Rural Aging Population, PI Kathy James, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health 

  • Understanding and Respecting End-of-Life Treatment Preferences Among Older Adults with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias, PI Lauren Nicholas, Department of Health Systems, Management and Policy 

  • Tribal Reservation Adolescent Connections Study, PI Jerreed Ivanich, Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health 

  • A Population Based Study of Keterolac and Ovarian Cancer Survival, PI Linda Cook, Department of Epidemiology 

  • Statistical Methods and Adaptive Trial Designs for Cardiovascular Outcomes with Information Sharing, PI Alexander Kaizer, Department of Biostatistics and Informatics