(0335) Trends in Otolaryngology Research Funding by the National Institutes of Health, 2020–2023

Introduction: There is scarce literature on recent trends in funding of Otolaryngology research by the NIH, therefore conducting analysis is important to guide funding to where it is most clinically relevant and necessary. Our study explores trends in funding with additional reports on disease focus and principal investigator (P.I.) demographics from 2020-2023.

Methods: The NIH’s RePORTER advanced search tool was used to search for R01 grants awarded to Otolaryngology departments. Grants were stratified by year from 2020-2023 and information regarding Principal Investigator (P.I.) demographics and project focus was collected. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the funding amount, demographics, and project categories.

Results: From 2020 to 2023, 751 (n) R01 Otolaryngology projects received a total of $360,545,270 in NIH funding. The average funding per project increased by 8.1% to $509,024 per project by the end of 2023. Significant funding variations were observed based on project category, PI degree, PI rank, and prior funding (p < 0.001). Individuals with Professor ranks and PhD degrees received the most grants amongst recipients, with Professors receiving 58.8% and PhD holders making up 61.7%. 28.4% of grants went to females; however, gender did not significantly impact funding amounts. Regression showed project category significantly predicted funding amount (p=0.05). Projects focusing on hearing abnormalities composed 41.6% of grants making it the top funded topic with $124,725,703 (33.7%) of total funding. Projects dealing with salivary gland, parathyroid, and laryngitis topics received the lowest percentage of grants 0.5%, 0.1%, 0.1% respectively.

Conclusions: The trends of NIH funding for Otolaryngology research appear to favor increasing annual funding while also targeting the most relevant head and neck diseases with the highest disease burden. However, disparities continue to exist in P.I. demographics, specifically in gender as seen from similar studies done for years prior. Our analysis may inform researchers and help guide the NIH in funds allocation for Otolaryngology research.