The interest in dermatology continues to gain importance in the house of medicine with the recognition that skin diseases will impact nearly everyone. Unfortunately the declining availability of federal grants for medical research discourages promising investigators and threatens our ability to make continual progress. That’s when the Dermatology Foundation can help.
The 1990s were a productive and robust era in biomedical research in the United States and around the world. The NIH budget had doubled by the end of that decade, with funding paylines reaching as high as the 20th percentile. Since then, NIH paylines have shrunk and the funding landscape looks bleak.
NIH budget increases have not kept pace with inflation and the rising costs of research. Currently, the payline is about 8 percent at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). This institute funds the majority of skin research, supplemented by grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). This is the lowest grant payout level we’ve seen since we began our careers. Many suggest, and we agree, that it should be closer to 20% to optimally support a successful global research program, as in the 1990s.
Federal research grants are essential to launch independent investigative careers and to generate innovations that improve health care in the US and around the globe. It can be daunting when you are a new investigator coming into biomedical research. Given that the NIH is the primary supporter of biomedical research, it takes longer to secure funding so the runway for investigators to establish a research career is prolonged.
Despite the grim outlook for public funding of basic and clinical research, there are reasons to be optimistic about the future.
First is the Foundation’s Research Award Program, which funds dermatology investigators who are just starting out. It’s a vulnerable time for them because they have few funding options. To protect their time and fund their research, the Foundation provides essential support to them during their junior faculty period.
We view our mission to support junior investigators as essential to the future of our specialty. Our career development awards (CDAs) have proven to be successful. About 70 percent of these recipients have continued on to receive federal support. The awards program also provides a substantial return on investment. For every dollar, the average CDA recipient gets at least 10 times that amount in external funding, enabling discovery and development of innovative therapies and new products.
The Foundation’s role is to anticipate the research needs of the specialty and early career investigators and to maintain an award program that supports them.
The Foundation’s role is to anticipate the research needs of the specialty and early career investigators and to maintain an award program that supports them. Over nearly six decades, we have diversified our research awards in parallel with the specialty. We want to continue that evolution to support all facets of dermatology. That’s why we’ve created new categories in academic dermatology, beyond just basic science research.
In recent years, we recognized there was a growing need for mid-career awards to support exceptional investigators who need extra funding until they obtain larger federal grants. Thanks to industry acknowledgment of the importance of research and the Foundation’s role, we have expanded our ability to support academic and clinical research at a critical career point.
Over the years, we have also recognized the importance of sharing our ability to identify promising investigators and novel ideas with other dermatology organizations, for the benefit of the specialty. Our well-established scientific review and administrative infrastructure has enabled us to work with organizations such as the Women’s Dermatologic Society, the Skin of Color Society and the Hidradenitis Suppurativa Foundation to select and fund awards in key study areas.
Second, we’re seeing a philosophical shift in how industry views research, with sponsored research at academic institutions having replaced many of their internal programs. The techniques developed in academic labs, particularly those that enable the direct study of human disease, are highly valuable. There is also a trend in Europe to eschew animal research for philosophical or economic reasons. That’s driven a lot of preclinical and clinical studies into the academic sphere.
You could say we’re in a golden era of biomedical research.
You could say we’re in a golden era of biomedical research. The technology we have to analyze human tissue at an unbelievably precise molecular level, and the many new treatments that have come out just in the last five to ten years; it’s mind-boggling. And it’s happened because of the commitment to continual research, and a greater interest in dermatology and skin disease.
Given the current research landscape, the Foundation has put in a lot of thought on how to best support new and future investigators, so we can keep talent onboard and continue advancing the specialty. That’s why we’re adjusting our Research Awards Program to meet the current needs of new and mid-career investigators: we’ve increased award values dramatically for the 2025 funding year. CDAs have gone up by $20,000 to $75,000 per year for up to two years; annual fellowships and grants by $5000 each to provide at $35,000 and $25,000, respectively.
The Foundation’s Research Award Program has successfully launched the research careers of innovative investigators and promoted advancements in patient care for 60 years. Let’s make sure we support its continued success over the next 60.
Dr. Cotsarelis is Milton B. Hartzell Professor and Chair of the Department of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He is a DF Board member and Liaison and directs the Research Award Program at the Dermatology Foundation and is a sustaining member of the Annenberg Circle.
Dr. Seykora is Professor of Dermatology in the Department of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He is also a member of the DF Board and co-directs the Research Award Program as a Board Liaison and is a sustaining member of the Annenberg Circle.