Women's likelihood of sustaining funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) may be better than commonly perceived, a study suggests. Women comprise less than a third of NIH research grantees and remain underrepresented in academic positions. One common assumption is that women involved in biomedical research undergo greater attrition than men at all career stages. Judith Greenberg and colleagues report evidence suggesting that women who obtain NIH funding stay in the workforce and sustain funding to support their careers. The authors analyzed the application and funding histories of 34,770 investigators who received a first major NIH research project grant between 1991 and 2010. Compared with men, women had slightly lower funding longevity, held fewer grants, submitted fewer grant applications, and were less successful at receiving funding for project renewals. However, when investigator characteristics such as degree type and first year of funding were matched, the gender difference for funding longevity was no longer significant. Additional analysis suggested that funding longevity depends to a greater extent on grant application rates than on gender. According to the authors, the findings suggest the need for efforts to encourage women to enter academia and support continued grant submissions.
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Article #18-00615: "NIH funding longevity by gender," by Lisa Hechtman et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Judith Greenberg, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD; tel: 301-594-2172; e-mail: <greenbej@nigms.nih.gov>
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences