Methods for using publicly available statistical analysis and mapping tools to visualize NIH research projects

Background: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) mission is “to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce the burdens of illness and disability.” NIH is committed to continuously examining its funded biomedical research projects and seeks to exemplify and promote the highest level of public accountability. Accordingly, rich data on NIH funding is available through its website, including downloadable information on funded persons, organizations, and projects. Objectives/Purpose: This presentation will review the types and sources of publicly available data on NIH funding, demonstrate various methods for visualizing the data using open-source statistical analysis and Google mapping tools, and present sample geographical analyses of NIH funded research projects. Methods: Using the publicly available RePORTER website, we downloaded NIH grant data from fiscal years 2001-2010 and transformed them into KML form using R. In KML form, these data were viewed and manipulated in Google Earth and Google Maps to produce meaningful visualizations of the geographical distribution of NIH-funded research projects. Results: This project demonstrated the usefulness of using public domain tools to analyze publicly available NIH data. Discussion/Conclusions: The tools and techniques presented in this session will advance understanding of the kinds of information that can be gleaned from publicly available data on NIH grants and encourage further exploration of NIH biomedical research funding among various stakeholder groups.