The Vanderbilt School of Medicine is well on its way to being in the top 10 medical schools by 2010, jumping two slots to 14th in the nation of the 125 accredited medical schools. Released this week, the rankings are part of U.S. News and World Report’s scoring of graduate and professional schools.
"I am thrilled with this new ranking," said Dr. Harry R. Jacobson, vice chancellor for Health Affairs. "This recognition is the result of a dedication to excellence of our faculty and our staff and is a result of the investments we’ve made in building our research capacity and strengthening our faculty. It is an affirmation by our peers in academic medicine that Vanderbilt is emerging as one of a handful of places in America where great discoveries will be made and leaders in medicine will be trained. At the heart of all this success is Dean Gabbe and I especially want to congratulate him and his staff on this achievement."
Dean Steven G. Gabbe, who announced his "10 by ’10" plan at last year’s Spring Faculty Meeting, is pleased with the ranking.
"This is very exciting and a reflection of what our faculty and leadership have been doing so well," said Gabbe. "But this hasn’t just happened in the past year or two. This reflects on the extraordinary efforts of all of our faculty over the past several years."
U.S. News says it bases it rankings on what it calls expert opinion and statistical indicators, weighing factors such as reputation, research activity, student selectivity, and faculty resources.
In addition, the publication also surveys several health disciplines. Vanderbilt’s program in Audiology was ranked second, Speech-Language Pathology was ranked eighth, and Clinical Psychology was 14th. All of these ranking were unchanged from the 2001 survey.
The School of Nursing was in a tie for 29th in the survey, named among other schools including Duke University, Georgetown University and University of Texas Health Science Center. U.S. News has ranked schools of nursing six times, with Vanderbilt being ranked each time.
Other Vanderbilt professional schools recognized by U.S. News included Law at 17th, Peabody, fourth, and Owen Graduate School of Management, 29th.
Here is U. S. News and World Report’s ranking of the top 20 research medical schools in the United States:
1. Harvard University
2. Johns Hopkins University
Washington University, St. Louis
4. Duke University
University of Pennsylvania
6. University of California-San Francisco
7. Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
8. Stanford
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
10. Yale University
11. University of Washington
12. Baylor College of Medicine
Cornell University
14. University of California-Los Angeles
Vanderbilt University
16. University of California-San Diego
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center-Dallas
18. University of Pittsburgh
19. Emory University
Mayo Medical School
Media Contact: Clinton Colmenares, 615-322-4747 clinton.colmenares@Vanderbilt.Edu