UMass Medical School climbs to record 21st in national funding rankings

Photo | Grant Welker UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester

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By Grant Welker

UMass Medical School has reached its highest ever ranking of a closely watched industry tally of federal research funding for medical schools after the amount it took in nearly doubled in one year.

The Worcester school was 21st on the new list from the Blue Ridge Institute for Biomedical Research in North Carolina, up from 38th a year ago. UMass, which announced the new ranking Wednesday, was surpassed in New England only by the Yale School of Medicine, bringing in $291 million from the National Institutes of Health. Harvard Medical School received $170 million.

The 2020 fundraising total for UMass was a major spike, up from $152 million the year before. That placed it eighth nationally among public medical schools. The big boost in funding last year was largely due to two awards that totaled $123 million related to COVID-19 testing as part of the national Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics, or RADx, program.

UMass Medical School is among the largest recipients in federal research funding in Massachusetts every year, with most of the funding coming from the NIH. The school typically trails only a small number of major Boston hospitals including Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital.

In all, the Blue Ridge Institute measures 140 medical schools that receive NIH funding.