Investigators have found that in the past decade, a majority of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) active R01 grants related to classical, nonmalignant hematology were led by male investigators, according to new findings presented by Khan et al at the 2023 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition (Abstract 5113).
Background
R01 grants award up to 5 years of support to investigators for their research projects. Most of the grants are awarded to physicians and scientists who work at university-affiliated medical centers and medical schools.
Although data on the proportion of female hematology researchers working at these centers are scant, research from 2020 has shown that 35.7% of physicians in clinical faculty positions in university departments of hematology and oncology in the United States were female. Among faculty who held at least one NIH research grant of any kind, 24.5% were female. Female physicians tended to have fewer years of experience than their male counterparts and hold more junior academic positions such as assistant professors.
“Historically, [female investigators] have been underrepresented in hematology and, consequently, are less likely to receive research grants,” explained lead study author Sara Khan, DO, a resident physician at HCA Healthcare and the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine. “While it’s encouraging that there was an upward trend in the number of grants to female investigators over the 10-year period we looked at, a significant gender gap remains,” she emphasized.
Study Methods and Results
In the new study, the investigators used the NIH RePORTER database to examine the data of all active and recently awarded R01 grants. The investigators developed a series of codes to analyze the annual data sets from 2012 to 2022, applying 45 classical, nonmalignant hematology terms and conditions—including hemophilia, factor V Leiden, sickle cell disease, anemia, thrombosis, and embolism.
After conducting analyses to identify the grants that mentioned these terms, they used a validated tool that demonstrated 85% accuracy to predict the researchers’ genders. Over the 10-year study period, the investigators identified 250,031 active R01 grants involving classical hematology–related research, 61.7% of which were led by male researchers and 32.9% of which were led by female researchers.
The investigators then sought to better understand whether gender breakdown in R01 grants varied by institute or research focus area as well as how the breakdown changed over time. They found that in 2012, just two NIH institutes (the National Institute of Nursing Research and the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities) awarded over 50% of their active R01 grants to female researchers. In 2022, these two institutes continued to award more than 50% of their R01 grants to female researchers, and two additional institutes (the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health) also awarded more than 50% of their R01 grants to female researchers.
Two NIH institutes—the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases—award the largest number of R01 grants in classical hematology. In 2012, both institutes awarded 27% of their R01 grants to female researchers. However, in 2022, the proportion of R01 grants awarded to female researchers had increased to 33% and 36%, respectively.
Further, three institutes—the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering—awarded less than 25% of their R01 grants to female researchers in 2012. By 2022, only the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering continued to award less than 25% of its R01 grants to female researchers.
Conclusions and Limitations
“[The National Institute of General Medical Sciences] and [the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke] have made steps toward promoting diversity and inclusivity in research funding. While some NIH agencies are making progress toward gender parity, the continuing large disparity in R01 awards by the [National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering] calls for further attention and action,” Dr. Khan underscored. “This study extends previous work showing that, as in other medical research fields such as cardiology, oncology, and gastroenterology, male [researchers] continue to receive a preponderance of these top-level grants,” she stressed.
The investigators noted that a limitation of the study was that they only included data from R01 grant recipients and not from all of the award’s applicants. Therefore, they could not determine whether male and female applicants for R01 grants were funded at similar rates. According to NIH data, the success rate for R01 grant–equivalent awards was 20.1% in 2021 and 21.6% in 2022.
Because many of the classical hematology terms applied in the study often coexisted with research pertaining to other conditions, including many hematologic malignancies, solid tumors, heart conditions, and gastrointestinal diseases, the research did not isolate grants for classical, nonmalignant hematologic conditions. Instead, it included any R01 grants that included these terms in the research abstract or title. Still, the investigators emphasized that their findings called attention to the need to address gender disparities in NIH funding.
“We need more research aimed at understanding the reasons for persistent gender disparities in R01 grant funding in [classical], nonmalignant hematology and other fields. This should help to identify the policy changes that may be needed to promote gender equity and bridge the gap that we’re currently seeing,” Dr. Khan concluded.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit ash.confex.com.
