Table 5 Case study: NIH funded research on racism in healthcare for FY 2022

Case study objective: This is a sub-analysis to the parent portfolio analysis aimed to determine the level of NIH investment of FY 2022 on racism in healthcare.

Design: NIH-funded research (R-series) data was queried from the NIH RePORTER system. Extramural research on racism in healthcare, conducted in the United States during the FYs of 2017 to 2022 were examined. Only NIH R-series grants with the FY 2022 funding period, that were on racism in healthcare was the focus of this sub-analysis.

Main Outcomes and Measures: The grants within FY 2022 were counted, each finding agency/center was identified and the total funding dollars of each of these grants were identified. The funding proportion was calculated using one denominator, which was the NIH expenditures of all R-series funded projects. For all projects during the FY of 2022, NIH funded 38,426 R-series projects with a total investment of $20,962,750,410 [41]. The numerator was the total dollar amount awarded to R-series grants for the FY of 2022 (n = 90).

Results: For the FY 2022, $52,764,063 dollars were granted to 90 awards that focused on racism in healthcare (see Table 6). Of the 27 different NIH institutes/centers [36], 19 were funding agencies for on the 77 grants. The top four agencies/centers that allocated the most funds were— NIMHD (16.8%), NICHD (12.2%), NIDA (10%) and the NIMH (8.9%)—accounted for almost half (47.9%) of the funding for FY 2022. The NIH dollar amount funded for racism in health care during FY 2022 resulted in 0.25% ($52,764,063/$20,962,750,410).

Conclusion: The results of this sub-analysis show that a small percentage of NIH monies is allocated towards racism in health care, even though we know important steps are needed to address racism. More funding of interventions and resources that address racism and it relationship to health disparities and inequities are needed. One of the study’s limitations is its dependence on the NIH’s RCDCs for themes linked to racism, which could reduce the amounts of grants connected to racism that result during a search.