In a recent paper published in Nature Biotechnology, Prof. Andy Back and his co-authors address this question by examining 2.3 million grants at the US National Institutes of Health from 1985 to 2017.

Academic & Professional Qualification
- PhD, University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management
- Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Mathematics, Northwestern University, Honors in Economics, Magna Cum Laude
Biography
Andy Back is an Assistant Professor of Management and Strategy. His main area of research is social networks. Specifically, his research focuses on understanding how organizations or individuals narrate their networks and how the narration affects outcomes. He has explored numerous research projects in the settings of gaming YouTubers, biopharma firms, and academic scientists. He received his Ph.D. in Management from the University of Toronto and BA in Mathematics and Economics (honors) from Northwestern University. Prior to his graduate studies, he worked in strategy consulting.
Research Interest
- Social Networks
- Network Narration
- Network Agency
- Status and Networks
Selected Publications
- “Advisor–Advisee Research Overlap and Its Implications for Scientists’ Early-Career Performance in the United States” (with Waverly W. Ding, Christopher C. Liu, and Beril Yalcinkaya), Organization Science, forthcoming.
- “The Impact of Gender Diversity on Junior versus Senior Biomedical Scientists’ NIH Research Awards” (with Christopher C. Liu, Beril Yalcinkaya, and Waverly W. Ding), Nature Biotechnology, 2024, 42, pp. 815-819.
Awards and Honours
- Faculty Teaching Innovation Award 2024-25
Recent Publications
17May
17 May 2024
Faculty




