Inside the Structural Reforms That Made IU Indianapolis a Translational Overachiever
How a resource-constrained university built a top-15 translation engine — and what other institutions can learn from it.
Top Universities
Every university on this list represents the highest tier of U.S. biomedical research. We ranked 243 research universities across the United States on their ability to translate scientific discovery into real-world healthcare solutions, evaluated on 25 indicators across three core domains.
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201
University of Southern Mississippi
Hattiesburg, MS
The University of Southern Mississippi ranks 201st among universities in the Cure Innovation Index, located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Research capabilities are its relative strength across the three domains, though the university sits in the middle of the field overall.
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202
202
University of Maine
Orono, ME
The University of Maine ranks 202nd among universities in the Cure Innovation Index, placing it in the lower tier across most measured dimensions. Located in Orono, its most competitive standing comes in Entrepreneurial Readiness, where it ranks 152nd.
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203
203
Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA
Lehigh University ranks 203rd among the 243 universities in the Cure Innovation Index and is based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Research capabilities place it in the lower tier of the ranking, but its market translation standing is considerably stronger, reflecting Lehigh's emphasis on engineering and applied disciplines.
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204
204
Oakland University
Rochester, MI
Oakland University ranks 204th among universities in the Cure Innovation Index. Located in Rochester, Michigan, the university shows developing performance in Research Capabilities and Market Translation, with comparatively stronger standing in Entrepreneurial Readiness.
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205
205
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Greensboro, NC
University of North Carolina at Greensboro ranks 205th among universities in the Cure Innovation Index and is located in Greensboro, North Carolina. Among its three domain standings, Market Translation is the most favorable, while both Research Capabilities and Entrepreneurial Readiness fall in the lower range among ranked universities.
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206
206
Auburn University
Auburn, AL
Auburn University ranks 206th among universities in the Cure Innovation Index, based in Auburn, Alabama. Its performance in market translation outpaces its standing in research capabilities, reflecting a profile that leans toward application over discovery.
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207
207
Midwestern University
Downers Grove, IL
Midwestern University ranks 207th among universities in the Cure Innovation Index, based in Downers Grove, Illinois. The university performs below the median across all three domains, with Research Capabilities representing its relative strength.
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208
Western Michigan University and Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine ranks 208th among 243 universities in the Cure Innovation Index. Located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the institution performs in the lower tier across all three domains; Entrepreneurial Readiness represents the highest relative standing, while Research Capabilities and Market Translation rank lower still.
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209
209
Rowan University
Glassboro, NJ
Rowan University, ranked 209th among universities in the Cure Innovation Index, is located in Glassboro, New Jersey. Market translation is the university's relative strength, with a standing that outpaces both its research capabilities and entrepreneurial readiness.
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210
210
Chapman University
Orange, CA
Chapman University ranks 210th among universities in the Cure Innovation Index, based in Orange, California. Across the three measured domains, entrepreneurial readiness is the institution's relatively strongest area, while both research capabilities and market translation fall in the lower tier of the ranked university field.
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Cure Innovation Index Methodology
From a pool of more than 6,000 institutions, the top 303 were ranked using two dozen indicators — from scientific foundation and lab infrastructure to patents, products, and partnerships — drawn from more than a dozen federal and commercial databases, an original audit of all institutions, and surveys of more than 3,300+ scientists, industry leaders, and biomedical experts.
Explore by Category
Innovation isn't a single moment — it's an entire ecosystem. The Index evaluates institutions across two dozen indicators, grouped in three core domains that reveal the full picture of what it takes to turn groundbreaking science into real-world impact.
Insights From the Cure Innovation Index
New York State Has Built One of the Country’s Most Powerful Biomedical Ecosystems
With 27 institutions ranked among the country’s top biomedical innovators, New York’s research cluster spans the entire state, and outperforms nearly every other in the country.
Universities Face an Uncertain Future as Gap To Industry Keeps Growing
As NIH funding shrinks and industry pulls back from early-stage science, universities are rethinking how discoveries move from the lab to the market.
How Universities Became the Engine of the Biotech Industry
The Bayh-Dole Act turned federally funded research into a commercialization pipeline that built American biotech. Forty-five years later, that pipeline faces a new set of political and financial pressures that could reshape how it works.
