Research

Biomedical research at Vanderbilt has long been recognized for its contributions to the advancement of medicine. The School of Medicine claims two Nobel Laureates, Earl Sutherland Jr. in 1971 for his discovery of the metabolic regulating compound "cyclic AMP," and Stanley Cohen in 1986 for his discovery with a colleague of epidermal growth factor. The Medical School's reputation for outstanding research is reflected in the amount of federal and private support it receives per faculty member. Because of the creativity of the faculty, the School of Medicine consistently ranks in the top 25 out of 129 medical schools in the receipt of funding from the National Institutes of Health; the NIH is the major source of federal funding for biomedical research.

Four of the School's basic science departments were ranked in the top ten among comparable medical school departments in receipt of NIH funding in fiscal year 1998. Pharmacology ranked number two among 108 similar departments nationwide; molecular physiology and biophysics was second of 102; biochemistry was ranked fourth out of 107; and cell biology placed fifth among 93.