Safdar Beenish, Naveed Sadiq, Chaudhary Amna Mohyud Din, Saboor Sundas, Zeshan Muhammad, Khosa Faisal
Graduate Medical Education, John T Mather Memorial Hospital, Port Jefferson, USA.
Psychiatry, Hartford Hospital, Institute of Living, Hartford, USA.
Cureus. 2021 Apr 23;13(4):e14644. doi: 10.7759/cureus.14644.
Objective The National Institute of Health (NIH) supports the academic career of scientists across the United States (U.S.). It promotes and sponsors scientists in conducting wide-ranging clinical and basic science research. Depending on the duration, research type, and budget, there are various types of grants awarded by NIH. Despite considerable advancement in biomedical sciences, female researchers remain underrepresented in obtaining NIH funding. Through this study, we aim to highlight the gender trends in NIH funding and grants. By doing this, we aim to facilitate effective future policymaking to help achieve gender parity in NIH grants and awards. Methods The data were obtained from the NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool (RePORT). The extracted data by gender were tabulated showing percentages of females as Research Grant Investigators, Research Career Development Award Recipients and Kirschstein-National Research Service Award (NRSA) Trainees and Fellows, recipients of Research Grants, Research Project Grants (RPGs), and R01 equivalent grants including types 1 or 2, over two decades (1999-2019). Absolute percentage change was also calculated and included in the tables. Results The percentage of females as NIH Research Grant Investigators has increased at centers, research centers as well as for RPGs and Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) programs. For Research Career Development Award Recipients and Kirschstein-NRSA Trainees and Fellows, the proportion of female pre-doctoral institutional trainees, post-doctoral fellows, post-doctoral institutional trainees, mentored research career awardees, and other research career awardees have steadily increased. However, there was a decrease in the percentage of female pre-doctoral fellow awardees. The percentage of females receiving all RPGs, R01-New (type 1) and R01-Renewal (type 2) grants has also decreased. Conclusion Despite an overall increase in the percentage of female researchers successfully receiving NIH grants and awards, they continue to lag compared to their male counterparts. With the increasing number of female doctoral graduates, it is imperative to address this disparity in NIH funding.
目的 美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）支持美国各地科学家的学术生涯。它促进并赞助科学家开展广泛的临床和基础科学研究。根据持续时间、研究类型和预算，NIH授予多种类型的资助。尽管生物医学科学取得了显著进展，但在获得NIH资助方面，女性研究人员的代表性仍然不足。通过本研究，我们旨在突出NIH资助和拨款中的性别趋势。通过这样做，我们旨在促进未来有效的政策制定，以帮助在NIH拨款和奖励中实现性别平等。方法 数据来自NIH研究项目在线报告工具（RePORT）。按性别提取的数据制成表格，显示女性作为研究资助调查员、研究职业发展奖获得者以及柯施斯坦 - 国家研究服务奖（NRSA）学员和研究员、研究资助获得者、研究项目资助（RPG）获得者以及包括1型或2型在内的R01等效资助获得者的百分比，时间跨度为二十年（1999 - 2019年）。还计算了绝对百分比变化并列入表格。结果 在各中心、研究中心以及RPG和小企业创新研究与小企业技术转让（SBIR/STTR）项目中，女性作为NIH研究资助调查员的百分比有所增加。对于研究职业发展奖获得者以及柯施斯坦 - NRSA学员和研究员，女性博士前机构学员、博士后研究员、博士后机构学员、指导研究职业奖获得者以及其他研究职业奖获得者的比例稳步上升。然而，女性博士前研究员奖获得者的百分比有所下降。获得所有RPG、R01 - 新（1型）和R01 - 续签（2型）资助的女性百分比也有所下降。结论 尽管成功获得NIH资助和奖励的女性研究人员百分比总体有所增加，但与男性同行相比，她们仍然滞后。随着女性博士毕业生数量的增加，解决NIH资助中的这种差距势在必行。
