The University of Virginia School of Medicine’s cutting-edge research program has climbed to No. 36 nationally in total funding from the National Institutes of Health, a new analysis from the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research reveals.
With more than $203 million in NIH awards in fiscal year 2025, UVA moved up three spots, from 39th, the group’s figures suggest.
Bolstered by its ambitious research efforts, the School of Medicine has been rising in the funding rankings in recent years: from 43rd in fiscal 2020 to 42nd in 2021 and 2022 to 38th in 2023, 39th in 2024 and now 36th.
“Our scientists and clinicians are doing incredible work to advance discoveries from bench to bedside and to accelerate how quickly we can get new treatments to the patients who need them,” said Colin Derdeyn, MD, the School of Medicine’s interim dean. “Federal research funding makes that possible, and the NIH supports the large majority of the work we do. In addition, this research funding is competitive. Our faculty write grant applications to support their work that are reviewed and ranked by the NIH. This growth in funding represents the quality of the work our investigators are doing – creative, innovative, groundbreaking and impactful.”
The new funding figures were compiled by the Blue Ridge Institute’s Robert Roskoski Jr. and Tristram G. Parslow based on year-end composite data they obtained from the NIH’s online grants database, the Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools (RePORT). The Blue Ridge Institute, an independent nonprofit based in North Carolina, has compiled the research funding rankings every year since 2006, and the rankings have become a widely accepted benchmark for research program success.
Fiscal 2025 was a banner year for UVA Health’s research efforts. Major discoveries that advanced our understanding of conditions such as Alzheimer’s and ovarian cancer – even hair loss – were accompanied by the momentum of UVA’s new Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology. The institute is dedicated to accelerating the development of new medicines for the world’s most devastating diseases, and in fiscal 2025 the institute marked several major milestones, including the appointment of Mark T. Esser, PhD, as its inaugural head and chief scientific officer.
Shortly after the fiscal year closed Sept. 30, state and university leaders celebrated the placement of the final beam on the institute’s upcoming home in Fontaine Research Park. The 350,000-square-foot facility will become the nerve center for biotechnology research, development and manufacturing at UVA, bringing together high-tech research facilities and state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities under one roof.
All that adds to the air of excitement about the groundbreaking research under way at the UVA School of Medicine and the Manning Institute.
“Advancing the care of the patients we serve through research – ranging from basic discovery of the nature of health and disease to clinical trials of new therapies – is a fundamental part of our mission at UVA Health,” Derdeyn said. “There is such great need and opportunity for this work at UVA in the coming years.”
To keep up with the latest medical discoveries from the School of Medicine and the Manning Institute, bookmark the Making of Medicine blog at https://makingofmedicine.virginia.edu.
For more on the new research rankings and methodology, visit the Blue Ridge Institute site.
Article written by Josh Barney, Deputy Public Information Officer, UVA Health.