UArizona College of Nursing Rises in Blue Ridge Rankings of National Institutes of Health Funding

Feb. 21, 2022

The Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research (BRIMR) recently released its rankings for Colleges of Nursing funded by the NIH in 2021. The UArizona College of Nursing rose in the organization’s rankings to 27 in 2021, up from 33 in 2020.  The BRIMR is the only organization that compiles NIH funding across colleges in the United States. The rankings are used as a measure of research productivity.

UArizona Nursing was able to increase its ranking between 2020 and 2021 due to several NIH faculty awards, notably two large-scale randomized trials (R01s) for Dr. Terry Badger, one R01 for Dr. Aleeca Bell, one R01 for Dr. Judith Gordon, and one developmental study (R21) for Dr. Tracy Crane.


We have a small but mighty faculty. Faculty in the College of Nursing are very productive in securing NIH funding, as well as other types of extramural funding. The Blue Ridge rankings don’t even tell the whole story," ~Judith S. Gordon, PhD, Associate Dean for Research, UA College of Nursing


“We have a small but mighty faculty,” said Judith S. Gordon, PhD, Associate Dean for Research in the UA College of Nursing. “Faculty in the College of Nursing are very productive in securing NIH funding, as well as other types of extramural funding. The Blue Ridge rankings don’t even tell the whole story.”

The BRIMR rankings underestimate the amount of research being conducted by UA College of Nursing faculty, Dr. Gordon said, adding the rankings include only NIH funding to faculty members listed as principal investigators within the College. The rankings do not reflect faculty’s roles on grants funded to other colleges or universities or other types of extramural funding, such as the Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Defense, NASA or private foundations. The total research expenditures in the College of Nursing were $5,395,130 in Fiscal Year 2021.

The Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research is a nonprofit organization that ranks U.S. medical schools by NIH grant awards each year. The NIH is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world. NIH-funded research has led to breakthroughs and new treatments helping people live longer, healthier lives, and building the research foundation that drives discovery.

The Blue Ridge Rankings track yearly NIH funding awards from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. The rankings are determined by the whole value of awards to a principal investigator’s institution and do not include research and development contracts.