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We're #7 (in Research Funding)!

Despite one of the toughest federal funding climates in recent years, the School of Nursing has moved from 8th to 7th place among nursing schools receiving National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. The total amount of research grant dollars awarded to JHUSON—the smallest nursing school and the youngest research center in the Top 10—reached $5,880,678 in FY2006.

"The #7 ranking is a unique milestone in today's highly competitive funding arena," says Gayle Page, DNSc, RN, FAAN, Inde-pendence Foundation Chair and Director of the Center for Nursing Research and Sponsored Projects. "Not only does a research project idea have to be good—no, change that to 'super'—the application has to be exquisite."

Adelaide Nutting Chair and Associate Dean for Research Jerilyn Allen, ScD, RN, FAAN, concurs, noting that the growth in funding reflects "an unparallelled commitment to get funded, exceptional talent, great ideas, and—above all—persistence."

The same persistence (and a dash of good humor) is demonstrated by the School's newly formed "Un-Scored Society"—a nurse researcher version of the Dead Poet's Society—whose funding applications received critiques but were not scored by federal reviewers. In today's ultra-difficult environment of tight federal funding, says Page, "it's no longer considered fatal to have your funding proposal un-scored. Now it just means it's time to review, revise, and resubmit."

The School's research leadership and Center for Nursing Research and Sponsored Projects are determined to continue moving forward toward funding success, and that means advising researchers throughout the funding process. Page reports that the School's Scientific Review Committee is giving significant time to reviewing funding proposals before they are submitted, and the researchers are open to and welcome their comments. She gives accolades to the members of the committee (see box below) and to their willingness to add these extra hours to already busy, overloaded schedules, noting, "It's a team effort, but we all benefit."

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Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing