KU School of Medicine rises another three spots in national rank

Apr 9, 2009

In 2008, the University of Kansas School of Medicine again improved its rank among all schools of medicine based on total National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant awards. Among all schools, KU rose three spots to rank 65^th in the nation and rose from 39^th to 36^th among public schools. This signifies tremendous growth from 2005, 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, and the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology is ranked in the top 10 at number five. Rankings are based on federal FY08, in which KU School of Medicine faculty members were awarded $44.7 million in grant funding.

Among public medical schools, other significant ranking improvements are: the Department of Preventive Medicine, from 13^th to 9^th; the Department of Biochemistry, from 41^st to 31^st; the Department of Neurology, from 37^th to 33^rd; and the Department of Psychiatry, from 49^th to 41^st.

“Even during challenging economic times, our innovative faculty members 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. “We are proud of our world-class faculty and the meaningful research they conduct to ultimately improve 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 three 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.