U-M Medical School: No. 8 and Climbing!

The University of Michigan Medical School is one of the 10 best research-oriented medical schools in the country, according to the annual “Best Graduate Schools” rankings released April 5 by U.S. News & World Report.

The U-M Medical School is now ranked eighth among the nation’s 125 accredited medical schools, an increase from last year’s ninth-place finish. Only one other medical school affiliated with a public university — the University of California-San Francisco — placed higher.

U.S. News & World Report also ranked the U-M in the top 10 for five medical specialties — drug/alcohol abuse (10), family medicine (10), geriatrics (6), internal medicine (8), and women’s health (6). This is the first year the Medical School has placed in the top 10 in the areas of drug/alcohol abuse and women’s health.

Among separate rankings of primary care-oriented medical and osteopathic schools, the U-M ranked 14th, up significantly from last year’s 26th-place ranking.

“The kudos go to our talented and dedicated faculty. Their commitment to excellence in patient care, research and teaching is driving this upward trend,” says Allen S. Lichter, M.D., dean of the U-M Medical School. “The move from No. 12 two years ago, to ninth last year, to this year’s No. 8 ranking shows that our peers realize that great things are happening at the U-M Medical School.”

For the first time, U.S. News & World Report also ranked Ph.D. programs in the biological sciences. The U-M placed 14th overall. In the specialty of microbiology, the U-M was ranked seventh. This represents a campus-wide achievement, as the Medical School and the College of Literature, Science and the Arts were surveyed as one. At the U-M, about half of the doctorates in the biological sciences are awarded through the Medical School.

In determining its overall national rankings, U.S. News & World Report considers several quality indicators, including reputation among medical school deans and senior faculty, levels of research funding, student selectivity, and faculty/student ratios. To determine rankings in the biological sciences, department heads and deans or directors of graduate studies at each program in each discipline were surveyed.

In 2001, the U-M Medical School selected 170 first-year medical students from 4,688 applications. The School’s current total enrollment is 666 medical students and 347 graduate students.

—MBR

See this year’s complete rankings at: www.usnews.com