AM last page: funding of academic research in clinical medicine in the United Kingdom.

Abstract

All medical schools and teaching hospitals in the United Kingdom – England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland – operate as academic health centers (AHCs) under an “unlinked partners” model, characterized by minimal structural integration. Despite a need for high functional integration, UK medical schools do not own or govern teaching hospitals and faculty practice plans (as in US and Canadian AHCs); thus, UK medical schools are unable to cross-subsidize research and education from patient care revenues. Instead, they must fully fund research through competition in three main funding sectors: government and its agencies, medical research charities (philanthropic foundations), and the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Recent years have seen a growth in funding for UK clinical research; an increased share of funding by government; and continuing concentration of funding in the “golden triangle” formed by Cambridge, London, and Oxford. AM Last Page: Funding of Academic Research in Clinical Medicine in the United Kingdom Pavel V. Ovseiko, DPhil, senior research fellow in health policy and management, University of Oxford, Stephen M. Davies, MSc, doctoral student, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Alastair M. Buchan, MD, DSc, dean of medicine, University of Oxford