News Summary

• Five AHC schools and colleges within the Academic Health Center demonstrated significant gains in the latest national rankings from U.S. News & World Report.
• Among the highlights are the Medical School coming in 13th overall among public institutions and the School of Public Health ranking 4th among public institutions.

Quotes

“Our ability to continuously grow our health sciences programs is a testament to our faculty, the quality of our students and the research that continues to make the University of Minnesota’s Academic Health Center an attractive academic institution,” said Dr. Aaron Friedman, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Medical School.

“For years, the state of Minnesota and our University have acted as partners in developing programs that have made a definitive impact on our state both in the Twin Cities and in our rural communities,” Friedman said. “We believe the results of these programs – and the latest national rankings – speak to the success of that partnership. It will be critical for the state of Minnesota to continue to support us as we look to grow these programs even further.”

Full Text

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (April 4, 2011) – Five schools within the University of Minnesota’s Academic Health Center have demonstrated significant gains in the latest national rankings from U.S. News & World Report. (Dental schools are not ranked by the annual survey.)

The latest rankings, appearing on newsstands tomorrow, show each school ranked nationally as follows:

• The Medical School ranks 13th overall among public institutions and climbed four spots among all schools nationally.
• The College of Pharmacy remains ranked 3rd nationally.
• The School of Public Health ranks 4th among public institutions, and climbed two spots to 8th among all national schools.
• The College of Veterinary Medicine climbed one spot to 9th nationally.
• The School of Nursing is ranked among the top 25 schools in the country.

“Our ability to continuously grow our health sciences programs is a testament to our faculty, the quality of our students and the research that continues to make the University of Minnesota’s Academic Health Center an attractive academic institution,” said Dr. Aaron Friedman, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Medical School.

In addition to the national ranks of the University of Minnesota’s health sciences schools, many programs received high national rankings.

The Medical School
The Medical School ranks 6th in the nation in primary care education, 4th in the nation in rural medicine and 11th in family medicine, all areas critical to curtailing physician shortages in Minnesota and across the nation.

According to a recent study by the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies a physician has an economic impact of $1 million a year in their community. The impact results from the services physicians provide to families in their community, the employment opportunities they provide and the income they generate for local health care organizations. They also make an area more attractive for other potential businesses and employers.

The School of Public Health
The School of Public Health received accolades for its health care management program, which now ranks 2nd in the nation.

Overall, the student body within the School of Public Health has nearly quadrupled since 1998 and has more than doubled since 2003. Currently, more than 1,230 students are educated within the school. The faculty has also grown by nearly 40 percent since 2004 and now stands as the largest in the school’s history.

The School of Nursing
The School of Nursing’s clinical nurse specialist program focused on community and public health ranks 6th nationally.

In 2009, the University of Minnesota School of Nursing celebrated its centennial and remains the longest, continuously run university-based program in the country. In addition to its overall ranking, the school is ranked in the top 20 nationally based on NIH-funded research.

The Impact of Health Professionals
According to Dr. Friedman, the impact of nationally-respected health sciences programs begin with recruiting the brightest students, faculty and researchers but extend into economically impacting the entire state.

“For years, the state of Minnesota and our University have acted as partners in developing programs that have made a definitive impact on our state both in the Twin Cities and in our rural communities,” said Friedman. “We believe the results of these programs – and the latest national rankings – speak to the success of that partnership. It will be critical for the state of Minnesota to continue to support us as we look to grow these programs even further.”

The US News & World Report survey ranks schools according to the quality of training in both research and primary care – including acceptance rates, faculty resources, and the number of graduates. Research activity also was measured by funding from the National Institutes of Health.