KU SOM rises eight spots in national rank

Sep 18, 2008

The University of Kansas School of Medicine rose eight spots to rank 68^th in the nation among all schools of medicine based on total National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant awards. Among public schools, it rose from 47^th to 39^th. This signifies tremendous growth from just two years ago, when the KU School of Medicine was ranked 81^st in the country.

In addition, with one exception, all of the school's basic science departments are in the top 25 for public medical schools. Two of the departments are ranked in the top 10, with Anatomy at 3^rd and Physiology at 9^th. Rankings are based on NIH FY07, in which KU School of Medicine was awarded $45.3 million.

“At a time when federal NIH funding remains flat, KU School of Medicine faculty continue to secure new funding for life sciences research,” said Barbara Atkinson, MD, executive vice chancellor of KU Medical Center and executive dean of the KU School of Medicine. “These improved rankings mean we're not only recruiting new, world-class talent to our campus, but our faculty continue to conduct meaningful research aimed at improving the health of our region.”

When the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation released its Time to Get it Right report in 2006, national experts outlined a goal for the KU School of Medicine to become a top-50 institution in the country and for all of its basic sciences programs to be in the top 25 by the year 2015. This significant progress, in just two years, puts KU well on its way to achieving the goals set out in Time to Get it Right, authored by Dr. Benno Schmidt, former president of Yale University.

The KU Cancer Center recently achieved another significant goal outlined in the Time to Get it Right report when it finalized an agreement for collaboration in cancer research and education among the metropolitan area hospitals, including Saint Luke's Health Systems, Children's Mercy Hospital and Clinics, Truman Hospital and The University of Kansas Hospital.