Equine funding for research

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We recently had a graduate student complete his Ph.D. and take a position at Cornell University. Before he left, I had a discussion with him regarding the expectations for his new research program. I made the comment that I'm glad I'm not starting over and having to establish a new research program.

Obviously, to do research, one needs research dollars. This requires a considerable amount of effort by each faculty member. If you are in a biomedical sciences department, the expectations are that these research dollars will come from federal funds, such as NIH, NSF, EPA, and USDA. However, a relatively small amount of money is spent by the federal government on equine research. Generally, the only equine research that obtains federal funding is genetic mapping or infectious diseases.

It so happens that this new faculty member at Cornell will be involved in equine reproduction. Thus, sources of funding will be primarily the Grayson-Jockey Club, Morris Animal Foundation, AQHA, AAEP, the pharmaceutical industry, and private donors. Grayson-Jockey Club indicated that they would award approximately $900,000 in grant funds for 2006, funding approximately 14 studies. They received a total of 52 grant proposals requesting about $4.5 million. Morris Animal Foundation plans to provide approximately $523,190 for 12 studies in 2006. The American Quarter Horse Association will make recommendations to the Executive Board regarding funding at their annual convention the first week in March. It is likely that they will provide approximately $500,000 in funding for 12 to 15 projects.

Another source of funding is the pharmaceutical industry. Although many pharmaceutical companies have in-house research facilities, some of the studies are outsourced to universities. This source of funding can be quite significant, but generally is restricted specifically to evaluation of the product of interest by an individual pharmaceutical producer.

Private donors are also a source of funds for equine research. This requires a large effort by individual faculty members and may take several years to develop a list of potential donors. From my experience, fund-raising is more friend-raising. The key to private donors tends to be developing a research program that is of interest to the donor and being able to express to the donor the need for private support. Private donors can either give directly to specific research programs or can give to the agencies mentioned above. The veterinarian certainly can be of assistance in identifying potential donors that may wish to participate in a research project or research program at a given university.

The cost of research has certainly escalated over the past several decades. Generally, the major costs are animal care, labor, and supplies. Costs for animal care at most universities have increased tremendously, almost to the point of making the university unattractive to pharmaceutical companies for research studies. Furthermore, most universities are extremely interested in assessing an indirect cost on each of the grants awarded. This indirect cost can be anywhere from 25 to 65% of the cost of the grant. These indirect costs are used to support the infrastructure of the university.

I sympathize with the young faculty member who is stepping into a new position and is responsible for obtaining funds for equine research. My advice is to take a broad approach and apply for funding wherever possible. Another bit of advice would be to collaborate with as many other investigators as possible, since this can spread the cost of research over several universities.