Jonathan Haines, Ph.D.
Ranking places VUSM among nation’s best
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine is once again ranked among the best medical schools in the nation by U.S. News and World Report magazine.
In its 2007 edition of America's Best Graduate Schools, released this week, VUSM ranked 17th out of 125 accredited medical schools.
“This ranking shows, once again, that Vanderbilt is recognized as one of the premier medical schools in the country,” Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs Harry Jacobson, M.D., said.
“Looking forward, I think we are on track to continue moving up this list with our progress in several areas including NIH research award growth.”
VUMC has the strongest NIH research award growth in the country at 20.4 percent and is exceeding projections in that area with $320 million last year and $425 million anticipated by fiscal year 2009.
“As this ranking shows, we are competing against an elite group of medical schools. I am pleased that we improved our ranking in six of the eight parameters used by U.S. News,” VUSM Dean Steven Gabbe said.
Rankings are based on two types of data: expert opinion about program quality, and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school's faculty, research and students. For the rankings in all five areas, indicator and opinion data come from surveys conducted in fall 2005 of more than 1,200 programs and some 9,600 academics and professionals.
U.S. News ranks schools with an overall score as determined by marks in 10 individual categories — peer assessment, assessment score by residency directors, undergraduate GPA and MCAT scores, acceptance rate, NIH research grants, research grants per faculty member, faculty/student ratio, out-of-state tuition and fees, and total enrollment.
Harvard University ranked first among research medical schools and Johns Hopkins University second. Vanderbilt tied with the University of Chicago.