Dear Colleagues,

For the 11th consecutive year, the U.S.News & World Report annual graduate and professional school rankings, released this morning, list the UW School of Medicine No. 1 in primary care. The UW School of Medicine also continues to be regarded as the best in the United States for teaching medical students about rural medicine and family medicine.

In the U.S.News analysis of National Institutes of Health (NIH) federal funding, the UW School of Medicine ranked first in the nation among public medical schools, and second overall after Harvard Medical School. The UW School of Medicine received $488.5 million in NIH funding in fiscal year 2003, up from $431.5 million in the previous year.

In addition to its No. 1 ranking overall in primary care and in teaching family medicine and rural medicine, the UW School of Medicine received high rankings in teaching other specific medical disciplines: No. 4 in AIDS and No. 5 in internal medicine. The school ranked No. 7 in geriatrics, No. 9 in pediatrics and tied for No. 10 in women's health. The occupational therapist program in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine ranked No. 12. The UW's bioengineering graduate program, jointly administered by the College of Engineering and the School of Medicine, ranked No. 4 in the nation.

These consistently high rankings from U.S.News, now entering their second decade, reflect the outstanding work of all of our faculty and staff. Thank you for your continued commitment to teaching, research, and patient care activities. UW Medicine is truly fortunate to have such a strong and dedicated community of individuals working for the betterment of others.

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