The newly released 2022 NIH Blue Ridge rankings show for the first time that Duke Orthopaedic Surgery is ranked No. 1 in the United States for NIH funding for an orthopaedics department. Shyni Varghese, PhD, Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, ranked first in funding for a Principal Investigator (PI) and Christine Goertz, DC, PhD, ranked seventh in an orthopaedics department. Collectively, one-fifth of the PIs in the top 25 rankings are from Duke Orthopaedic Surgery – with more than 24 percent of our faculty participating in NIH-funded work.
“We are undertaking research across the full spectrum of disciplines, from fundamental biology to implementation sciences. All our work focuses on improving the health of the populations that trust us. NIH funding is only a surrogate measure of our research productivity, as we have scores of studies funded by other federal agencies, foundations, industries, or internally that positively impact health,” said Duke Orthopaedics Chair, Benjamin Alman, MD.
We congratulate the following faculty members who are PIs on NIH grants: Benjamin Alman, MD; Gurpreet Baht, PhD; Joe Chakkalakal, PhD; Louis E. DeFrate, ScD; Steven George, PT, FAPTA, PhD; Christine Goertz, PhD; Adam Goode, PT, DPT, PhD; Matthew J. Hilton, PhD; Trevor Lentz, PT, PhD, MPH; Amy McNulty, PhD; Corey Simon, PhD; Shyni Varghese, PhD, and Colleen Wu, PhD; and the faculty who have funding as co-applicants or collaborators: W. Todd Cade, PT, PhD; Richard Clendaniel, PT, FAPTA, PhD; Chad Cook, PT, FAPTA, PhD; Emily D’Agostino, DPH, MS, MEd, MA; Will Eward, DVM, MD; Jody Feld, PT, DPT, PhD; Ming-Feng Hsueh, PhD; Maggie Horn, DPT, MPH, PhD; Cambey Mikush, OTD, OTR/L; Amy Pastva, PT, MA, PhD; Laura Pietrosimone, PT, DPT, PhD, SCS; Yu Ru Shih, PhD; Jocelyn R. Wittstein, MD; and Xin Zhang, MD. We also congratulate our leadership in research administration, Tomasa Barrientos De Renshaw, PhD, and Carrie Killelea, PhD, for their support of the Department’s research mission.
Dr. Alman continued, “The magnitude of our funding growth and the breadth of our work demonstrates the commitment and diversity of our research toward improving musculoskeletal and rehabilitation sciences, clinical care, and health. This is a tremendous achievement. Everyone worked hard to get us here, and I’m very proud of our accomplishments.”
The Blue Ridge ranking — an annual, independent analysis of NIH research funds to colleges and universities — also reported eight clinical science departments and two basic science departments in the Duke School of Medicine among the top 10 in the country. Duke has ranked in the top 10 in NIH research funding nationally in 19 of the last 22 years.
“Duke scientists are making an enormous difference in advancing scientific knowledge and improving human health,” said School of Medicine Dean Mary E. Klotman, MD. “Their consistently strong record of research funding is a testament to their excellence and innovation, and I am proud of our faculty, students, and staff for their commitment to biomedical science in service to society.”
The NIH is the world's largest public funder of biomedical research, investing more than $45 billion in 2022 to advance research aimed at improving health.