Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has been named the No. 1 research-oriented medical school in Ohio, according to the influential annual ranking by U.S. News & World Report. In addition, the school was ranked one of the leading medical schools in America—at number 24.
“All of us at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine—our faculty and staff, our students, our donors and our great affiliated hospitals—are proud of this recognition of our school as an innovator in medical education, a leader in life-saving biomedical research and a force for improving health,” said Pamela B. Davis, MD, PhD, dean of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and the university’s senior vice president for medical affairs. “We are grateful to the university for the vision and commitment that makes our contributions and our progress possible.”
The medical school includes two programs—a university program with entering classes of about 180, and the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine program, with 32 students each year. Lerner College provides full tuition for all five years of its program, which includes a dedicated year for research. Last year, nearly 2,000 students applied for those fewer than three-dozen slots.
“We are extremely proud to be one of the unique medical school programs offered through our partnership with Case Western Reserve University,” said James Young, Cleveland Clinic’s Chief Academic Officer and former dean of Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. “This collaboration makes each of us stronger and strengthens what we can do for Cleveland and the world as a truly interprofessional team of teams. The increase in the rankings recognizes the exceptional faculty and commitment to setting the highest standards for training the next generation of physician scientists.”
This spring, the university and Cleveland Clinic will open the Health Education Campus—which includes the 477,000-square-foot Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion as well a 135,000-square-foot dental clinic. Samson Pavilion will include students from the medical school, as well as Case Western Reserve’s nursing and dental schools.
The rankings are based on statistical criteria, such as amounts of research funding and the qualifications of admitted students, and on peer assessments by deans and other leaders at medical schools.
“Our school has been a pioneer in medical education for 175 years, and we’re just getting started,” Davis said. “We’re about to take another big leap by moving into a new state-of-the-art Health Education Campus this spring. It will bring together and facilitate collaboration across all our health education schools, and will incorporate some of the most advanced technology in the world.”
The Health Education Campus will provide an important educational opportunity by bringing students and faculty from the university’s schools of medicine, nursing and dental medicine under one roof.
“Our move into this new building further extends the University’s national leadership in interprofessional education, and will facilitate learning for health-professional students with social work and other programs across campus,” said Vice Dean for Medical Education Patricia A. Thomas, MD, FACP. “Students from these different disciplines will learn together and will be better prepared to provide the team-based patient care that is quickly becoming the standard for the future.”
In addition, students will be able to take advantage of leading-edge educational technologies.
“To improve the efficiency of learning and sharpen students’ diagnostic skills, we’ve updated our human anatomy curriculum to incorporate augmented reality, ultrasound and diagnostic imaging methods,” Thomas said.
As reported by U.S. News, in 2018 the school’s research funding from the National Institutes of Health, the primary source of support for biomedical research in the United States, was $336.3 million—an increase of $13.8 million over 2017.
“In addition to our education and research accomplishments, we’re proud of our medical school’s commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of our community,” Davis said. “Through our valuable collaborations with the schools’ affiliate hospitals, our students acquire a deep understanding of the causes and remedies of health disparities and the experience and skills to deliver care in a community setting.”
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For more information about Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, please visit case.edu/medicine.
Media Contact:
Ansley Gogol
Case Western Reserve University
School of Medicine
Phone: 216.368.4452
Ansley.Gogol@case.edu