Improving Health Through Nursing Research

Three Columbia Nursing researchers collaborating in a meeting room.

Research

By expanding research and scholarly capacity, Columbia University School of Nursing has attained international recognition for innovative, rigorous scholarship, particularly in interdisciplinary research within nursing and across disciplines.  Research conducted by our faculty, postdocs, and students creates new knowledge and clinical insights that improve the health and health care of individuals, families, and communities in the United States and around the world.

Columbia Nursing has a strong commitment to research and scholarship. Studies conducted by our nurse scientists investigate the underpinnings of patient symptoms, disease risk, and illness progression and seek to improve the delivery of care. Our distinguished faculty of nursing scientists publish research findings in influential peer-reviewed journals and have been honored by health care’s prominent associations, foundations, and government agencies. Among nursing schools in the United States, Columbia Nursing is consistently ranked among the leading institutions receiving external funding from the National Institutes of Health. Our faculty, postdocs, and students also receive support for their innovative research from other prestigious federal funding agencies such as the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as prominent health organizations such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

When nurse scientists collaborate on research with their clinician colleagues, their findings can be translated to the bedside quickly and directly where they can be of most benefit to patients. Columbia Nursing provides opportunities for nurse scientists and nurse clinicians to share ideas and work together on projects helping to advance research that has a strong patient-centered focus.

Funding Highlights

  • Ranked 1st among Schools of Nursing in NIH funding for fiscal year 2022
  • Ranked 4th among Schools of Nursing in NIH funding for fiscal years 2019, 2020, and 2021
  • Ranked 1st among Schools of Nursing in AHRQ funding for fiscal years 2015-2019
  • Approximately $18 million in federal and non-federal funds awarded in fiscal year 2020
  • 63 active grants in fiscal year 2022
  • Largest single Columbia Nursing research grant: $15 million R01 (total over 5 years) awarded in fiscal year 2022
  • 2 NINR-Funded Institutional Training Grants supporting 7 postdoctoral trainees and 6 predoctoral trainees