For decades, receipt of multi-million $$ R01 @NIH grants has been crucial for med school research-focused faculty to gain promotion/tenure. **But this harms individuals & institutions** THREAD on why we must drop this “R01 Golden Ticket” mentality. (1/7)
Why is the #R01GoldenTicket a problematic promotion criteria? First, ⬇️⬇️ in NIH funding paylines has raised the bar ⬆️⬆️ over time. Success rates for R01 proposals were 25%-30%; now hovering far lower: bit.ly/3u4JyRk (2/7)
This scarcity of funds has predictable results:Recent analyses by Mike Lauer @NIHgrants@NIHDirector showed that fewer than half of NIH Career Development Grant Awardees (a highly selected population) had received an RO1 grant 10 years later. bit.ly/3lzjD1a (3/7)
The problem is not just that R01 funding is increasingly competitive. Its not a level playing field. Structural racism & sexism in science perpetuates inequity in @NIH funding. e.g. Black investigators systematically less likely to receive funding. bit.ly/3w8OZRa (4/7)
Genuflecting at the alter of the #NIH R01 grant also perpetuates gender bias in academia, given inequity in peer review, research-"protected" time, and subsequent funding. #MedTwitter (5/7)
...and here is the kicker – there is poor relation between reviews/scores of (funded) R01 proposals and actual scientific productivity – either number of pubs, or citations. (6/7) #Medtwitter elifesciences.org/articles/13323
Do we need more NIH $$, more R01 grants? Sure. But lets change how we're evaluating faculty, to focus on their science, mentorship, collaboration. **Reward Impact** As is, we're stifling creativity, perpetuating inequity, and losing great scientists. #MedTwitter (7/7)
THREAD: Our new #COVID19 disparities study now on @medrxivpreprint! *CAUTION: Preliminary findings; not peer-reviewed* We explored variation across states in race/ethnic disparities at the population level. bit.ly/2T6vcQv#healthequity 1/n
First, as of late April, we found substantial variation across states in % of pts with missing race/ethnicity data. *Reporting race/ethnicity is not a simple yes/no* Quality matters, and it needs work. 2/n
Even among states that do report #covid mortality across race/ethnic groups, a large source of bias is often ignored: Black and particularly Latinx population skews younger than white. Check out data, via @uscensusbureau Census: bit.ly/2yY9S8V#disparities 3/n