May 20, 2004

Dear Colleagues:

It is wonderful to share with you two related items of good news: 1. Once again, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine tops the list of 121 medical schools that receive funds from the National Institutes of Health. 2. Our research, which is funded by the NIH, other federal agencies, philanthropy, and other sources, has a significant scientific impact, as indicated by the latest analysis in Science Watch, the Thomson Scientific newsletter that uses scientific citations and other techniques to report on trends and performance in basic research.

According to the NIH analysis for fiscal year 2003, our institution received 967 awards for a total of more than $414 million. Washington University in St. Louis came in second with 775 awards totaling more than $368 million. Penn, the University of California at San Francisco, and Duke rounded out the top five, receiving, respectively, 938 awards for approximately $360 million, 785 awards for approximately $351 million, and 661 awards for $305 million. Our neighbor, the University of Maryland, ranked 37th on the list, with about $113 million in NIH awards. Awards included research grants, training grants, fellowship awards, research and development contracts, and a handful of other award types. The NIH's complete list can be found online at http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/award/rank/medttl03.htm.

Using Thomson's store of publication and citation data (and, in this case, the site-licensed online database known as Essential Science Indicators), Science Watch examined institutions worldwide and their citation totals in 11 main fields of science, based on papers published and cited in Thomson-indexed journals between 1999 and 2003. In their analysis, The Johns Hopkins University appears among the 10 most-cited institutions in five of these fields: Molecular Biology and Genetics, Biology and Biochemistry, Clinical Medicine, Neurosciences, and Space Science.

These achievements reflect the strength of our clinical and basic research efforts and the remarkable productivity, creativity and ingenuity of all involved, including students, post-docs, fellows, technicians, nurses, staff and faculty members, and administrative and support personnel for laboratories, departments, offices and committees. Our research success builds on and feeds our other missions of education and patient care, and would be impossible without the extraordinary effort of all School of Medicine personnel.

Congratulations on maintaining and building on Johns Hopkins' legacy of research excellence. What we learn with the funds entrusted to us will continue to change science and medicine. The world waits.

Sincerely,

Edward D. Miller, M.D.
Dean of the Medical Faculty and
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine