Dear Colleagues,

The U.S. News & World Report annual graduate and professional school rankings, released this morning, have once again recognized the UW School of Medicine as a national leader. I would like to thank you for contributing your hard work, dedication and talents toward the success of the school's teaching programs and research endeavors.

For the eighth consecutive year, the UW School of Medicine ranked first as the nation's top primary-care medical school. This year, as in the past year, all medical schools and osteopathic schools were compared in this category.

The U.S. News & Report method of calculation ranked the UW School of Medicine third in the nation in receipt of National Institutes of Health (NIH) research funding, after Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, and first among public medical schools in NIH funding. The U.S. News & World Report figures listed the UW medical school as receiving $316.7 million in NIH grants in fiscal year 1999-2000.

Each year, the nation's medical school deans and senior faculty rank specific clinical teaching programs. This year, the UW medical school's training efforts in rural medicine ranked No. 1 for the tenth year in a row. For the eighth year in a row--all the years the category has existed--the UW medical school ranked No. 1 in teaching family medicine.

Other medical student teaching programs ranking in the top ten were pediatrics at No. 4, women's health care at No. 5, teaching of AIDS tied with University of California-Los Angeles at No. 5, geriatrics at No. 6, and internal medicine tied with the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor at No. 7.

The occupational therapist program in the UW Department of Rehabilitation Medicine ranked No. 10. The UW's graduate program in bioengineering tied at No. 6 with Georgia Institute of Technology. The UW College of Engineering and the UW School of Medicine jointly administer the UW bioengineering program. Also of note is that the UW's graduate program in clinical psychology tied for second place with Indiana University-Bloomington.

Academics and others often question the U.S. News rankings on their scientific validity and their lack of ability to measure quality education. However, this annual effort on the part of the magazine does call public attention to graduate and professional education. Generating public interest and support is important to colleges and universities. Such support is needed for the next generation of students who will serve their communities and who will make contributions to scientific knowledge, the arts, humanities and other fields.

Paul Ramsey, M.D.
Vice President for Medical Affairs
And Dean of the School of Medicine