Critical Shortfall in NIH Support for Medical Physics Research

Area of Science:

• Medical Physics Research
• Federal Funding Analysis
• Grantmaking Trends

Background:

• Federal funding is critical for medical physics innovation and patient care.
• Understanding funding shifts is essential for the research community's stability.
• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is a primary source of research grants.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify changes in NIH funding for medical physics researchers between FY24 and FY25.
• To analyze the composition of NIH funding shifts.
• To assess the impact of these changes on the medical physics research pipeline.

Main Methods:

• Linking the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) membership database with NIH RePORTER records.
• Quantifying the distribution of NIH funding for projects led by AAPM researchers.
• Analyzing trends in competing and noncompeting grant awards.

Main Results:

• Total NIH funding to AAPM members remained stable year-over-year.
• Competing awards declined by 50%, with new R01 grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) collapsing by 80%.
• Noncompeting continuation awards increased by 10% due to changes in NIH multi-year project funding.

Conclusions:

• Substantial shifts in NIH funding composition occurred between FY24 and FY25.
• Disruptions in NIH review and grantmaking processes coincided with these funding changes.
• The observed trends raise concerns about the long-term stability and vitality of medical physics research funding.