The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Medicine continued its climb in two categories of this year’s U.S.News & World Report’s academic rankings.
The annual health disciplines rankings were released today in the magazine’s “America’s Best Graduate School” guidebook (2007 edition).
The following UNMC programs moved up in this year’s rankings:
- The College of Medicine’s primary care program (ranked 11th out of approximately 140 medical schools, up six spots from 17th place);
- The College of Medicine’s rural health medicine program (ranked 9th out of approximately 125 schools, up one spot from 10th).
“The focused recruiting we’ve been doing and the quality of our research has a ripple effect on all of our clinical and education programs,” said Rubens Pamies, M.D., vice chancellor for academic affairs at UNMC. “I’m delighted to see we continue to move up in the rankings. It speaks to the hard work and the strong effort and commitment of our faculty. I anticipate with the new medical education building that our education programs will only continue to improve and our rankings continue to climb.”
UNMC will formally celebrate the beginning of construction of the Michael F. Sorrell Center for Health Science Education — which will serve as the home to the UNMC College of Medicine — on Tuesday, April 4. The ceremony is at 10:30 a.m. at the northeast corner of the intersection of 42nd Street and Emile Street, directly south of the UNMC College of Pharmacy. The building is expected to be completed by the fall of 2008.
The newsstand book, “America’s Best Graduate Schools,” is slated to hit newsstands on April 3. Many of the rankings will appear in the April 10 edition of U.S.News & World Report magazine, which also goes on sale that day.
Rankings from the “Best Graduate Schools” are available online at www.usnews.com. The online edition includes longer lists of some specialty rankings, as well as additional school directory information.
The U.S.News & World Report 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. This year in medical school research, U.S.News added the total dollar amount of research grants awarded per full-time science and clinical faculty member from the National Institutes of Health to the medical school. The annual America’s Best Graduate Schools report began in 1990.
UNMC officials encourage students to use many sources when selecting a graduate or professional program. Editors say a ranking is one of the criteria students should consider when selecting a graduate school in addition to the student’s academic and professional ambitions, financial resources, scholastic record, along with a school’s size, atmosphere and location.
UNMC is the only public health science center in the state. Its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through its commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC has established itself as one of the country’s leading centers in cancer, transplantation biology, bioterrorism preparedness, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, genetics, biomedical technology, ophthalmology and arthritis. UNMC’s research funding from external sources is now more than $72 million annually and has resulted in the creation of more than 2,400 highly skilled jobs in the state.