Pitt cuts medical research incentive

Beginning July 1, medical research will be slightly less rewarding—at least financially—for faculty at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Medicine. In a memo sent to department chairs, directors and faculty at the school this spring, the dean, Arthur S. Levine, cited economic conditions as the reason the school will reduce an incentive payment based on researchers' outside grants from 10 percent to 8 percent, while also instituting a $50,000 minimum in outside grant money for researchers to qualify for the incentives. As research funding dries up, and as med schools look for cost savings such as reducing incentive plans, physicians who split their time between doing research and seeing patients may shift more of their work to the clinical side.