UMass Medical School ranks 10th nationwide in primary care among 191 medical and osteopathic schools surveyed by U.S. News & World Report for its annual rankings of the best graduate schools.
The 2022 U.S. News report also marks a rise for UMMS in research, ranking 45th, up two spots from the previous ranking.
“The pandemic has presented our nation with unprecedented challenges, yet it has also brought into sharp focus the incredible impact of biomedical research and the need for more skilled and compassionate physicians and nurses and innovative and collaborative scientists,” said Chancellor Michael F. Collins. “We could not be prouder of the ways our faculty, staff and students have demonstrated their fidelity to our public service mission and our faculty’s unwavering commitment to providing an outstanding education to our students.”
The School of Medicine has grown significantly in recent years as it prepares to graduate its largest class ever, of 168 students, this spring. This year also marks the first graduating class of the regional campus in Springfield focused on urban and rural primary care. UMass Medical School-Baystate, a partnership between Baystate Health and UMMS, is training primary care doctors in urban and rural community health. The Population-based Urban and Rural Community Health (PURCH) program exemplifies the continuing institutional commitment to developing primary care physicians.
Every year, a large percentage of the graduating class from the School of Medicine enters primary care residency programs. This year, 71 students matched in internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics & gynecology, representing 42 percent of the class. Seventeen students are going into emergency medicine. Additionally, more than half of each class stays in Massachusetts for residency. Among members of the class of 2021, 86 will complete some or all of their residencies in Massachusetts, including 43 staying at UMMS campuses in Worcester and Springfield.
UMass Medical School staff, faculty and students have been at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic response in Massachusetts. Late last year, Medical School faculty and students launched an effort to support the equitable distribution of vaccine to vulnerable populations. This effort led to UMMS launching a statewide initiative to recruit and deploy volunteers, called the Vaccine Corps, to accelerate the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Massachusetts. The Vaccine Corps has expanded in partnership with Commonwealth Medicine, the consulting and operations division of UMass Medical School. As part of the initiative -- which now totals nearly 6,000 volunteers -- medical and nursing students are eligible to administer vaccines and perform other clinical duties.
“Through its half century of operation, and in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic and many other challenges, UMass Medical School has remained faithful to its mission of training the health care providers required to meet the needs of the people of the Commonwealth. As the school has grown in size and reached that top 10 in excellence, we are meeting that need more effectively now than ever before,” said Terence R. Flotte, MD, the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the School of Medicine.
UMass Medical School’s Graduate School of Nursing was ranked 90th in nursing master’s programs and 47th in Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs.
U.S. News & World Report surveyed 191 medical schools accredited in 2020 by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and American Osteopathic Association. Rankings of the 129 responses are based on measures of academic quality, which are weighted by reputation among faculty and residents, research activity, student selectivity and faculty resources. UMMS has been listed near the top of the category since 1994 when the magazine began publishing the rankings.
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LISTEN: PURCH track at UMMS-Baystate focuses on rural, urban community health
UMMS welcomes historically large School of Medicine class
