Tufts' health sciences campuses have been able to stave off major financial cutbacks thanks to grants from the federal economic stimulus package and state funding.
Overall, the Tufts health sciences campuses have received over 50 awards, amounting to more than $16 million in grants funded by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), more commonly known as the economic stimulus package.
In particular, Tufts School of Medicine profited from a significant boost in federal moneys. Both Tufts' dental and veterinary schools, however, have supported their programs through other funds, relying specifically on state support to stave off cutbacks.
The medical school received approximately $9.1 million in grants through ARRA as of the end of September. The funding is spread across 39 separate grants according to Christine Fennelly, director of public relations for the health sciences campuses.
The majority of these funds comes from grants funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF). They are typically two-year research grants, otherwise known as challenge grants, according to Marsha Semuels, executive administrative dean of Tufts School of Medicine.
Challenge grants differ from typical grants in that the funds are not awarded until the conditions stipulated by the grant are met.
In total, the School of Medicine has benefitted from 118 grants through NIH, a boost from the 106 NIH grants the school received in fiscal year 2008.
According to Semuels, funding from NIH has been the same or has decreased for the last several years. Because of this and the recession, medical schools across the nation are suffering massive deficits.
"There are about 130 medical schools [in the United States] and 85 of those are research-based; all of them have major deficits ... We, like other medical schools have a deficit -- $5 million as a result of financial markets," Semuels said. "It would have been $10 million if we had not taken the initiative to decrease that impact."
It is because of deficits like these that the ARRA funds are so important. "These grants come in and support new projects. We could not research without them," Semuels said.
She explained that NIH did not just strictly look at new applications for the grants but instead contacted medical schools requiring additional funds. "As a result of the stimulus package, NIH went back and looked at grants that were below the pay line and they said to us 'what do you need?'" she said.
While the medical school has profited from an increase in NIH grants, the same cannot be said for the School of Dental Medicine. According to executive associate dean Joseph Castellana, federal funding has remained largely flat.
"Some of our researchers have seen reductions in their own individual grants but we've received new funding as well," Castellana said. "We have more grants but the dollar amount has remained the same."
In fiscal year 2008, the dental school received seven grants through NIH; this year that number is at nine.
This, however, is not damaging to the dental school's operations, as only around seven percent of the school's budget comes from grants similar to the ones given out by NIH, Castellana said.
In fact, he added, the dental school has actually benefited from the recession. "In our clinic operation, we saw a slight increase in our clinic revenue last year," he said. "We know that private practice dentists saw a reduction in revenue, but what we believe has been the case is that when it comes to some of the more involved dental treatments, people come to the dental school because it is at less expense to them."
At the dental school, the bigger issue is the prospect of reduced funding for MassHealth public insurance, which is a Massachusetts brand of Medicaid that covers low income residents of Massachusetts.
"There is a threat that the state may either reduce or eliminate MassHealth dental benefits for adults," Castellana said. "About 20 percent of patients who we treat receive care through Mass. dental benefits. That would have a significant impact on our patients."
For now, the dental school has staved off major cutbacks through increased clinic volume and, according to Castellana, "some skillful grant writers."
Federal funding has also remained relatively stagnant for the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, receiving the same number of federal grants as last year totaling approximately $1.9 million.
This has not proved problematic, as the school is far more dependent on state funding than federal dollars. Earlier this year, however, the institution faced a scare that the state would completely eliminate funding, but a compromise was reached and the Cummings School received $2.5 million.
It will be able to stave off major cutbacks thanks to the appropriated funds, according to Cummings School Dean Deborah Kochevar.
"Given the extraordinarily difficult constraints on state revenue this year, we are very pleased to have moved from an appropriation of zero to $2.5 million," Kochevar said in an e-mail. "Operation of the Cummings School would be adversely affected if state funding were lost."
She was optimistic on the future of state funding. "We expect the state's commitment -- and its investment in veterinary education and medicine -- to continue," Kochevar said.
