The Alpert Medical School rose from No. 38 to No. 34 in the U.S. News and World Report annual ranking of top medical schools for research released last Friday. Students and administration officials alike met the Med School's new ranking with great enthusiasm.
U.S. News compiles two sets of rankings for medical schools - research, which assesses an institution's research facilities, and primary care, which looks at how many students enter primary care programs such as family practice, internal medicine and pediatrics.
"It is both exciting and validating to hear about Brown ascending in the medical school rankings, but it is not surprising," Neel Shah '04 MD'08, president of the Med School student senate, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. "We have one of the very best medical schools in the country, with potential for even greater excellence under the Plan for Academic Enrichment, I expect a meteoric rise in our ranking in years to come. "
The most heavily weighted factor in the research category of the U.S News medical school rankings was peer assessment from medical school administrators and residency program directors. The Med School's increased visibility is what "the rise in rankings probably most reflects," said Philip Gruppuso, associate dean of medicine for medical education.
Despite the rise in research rankings, the Med School dropped to No. 27 from No. 16 in the U.S. News' rankings for primary care. 30 percent of the criteria for primary care rankings are based on how many graduates on average enter primary care residencies from 2004 to 2006.
"There has been a steady decline in (the) number of (Brown) students entering primary care residencies in the last five years, which was reversed this year," Gruppuso said. "We don't have a clue why."
"We're pleased about the research ranking," Gruppuso said, adding that he was not particularly concerned about the slip in primary care rankings. "The research and primary care rankings are generally inversely related," he said.
"The research ranking is what places mostly pay attention to," Gruppuso said. "A research medical school can get its students into primary care residencies. It's harder for a primary care medical school to get its students into research residencies."
Brown shares the No. 34 slot with Boston University, New York University and the University of Rochester. Harvard University, the Johns Hopkins University and University of Pennsylvania placed first, second and third in the rankings, respectively.
