San Francisco Citizen

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The deets, here and after the jump:

UCSF Ranks Among Best Medical, Nursing Schools in Survey

UCSF is ranked among the nation’s top four schools for medicine and nursing, according to a new survey conducted by U.S. News & World Report.

Results are published in the magazine’s 2012 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools,” which appeared online on March 15, 2011 at www.usnews.com and will be available on newsstands on April 5.

The survey ranks schools according to the quality of training in both research and primary care. UCSF has the only school of medicine in the nation that ranks in the top five in both categories — fourth in the United States for primary care and fifth nationally for research.

The report ranks the UCSF School of Nursing fourth overall and first nationwide in the nursing specialties of family nurse practitioner, psychiatric/mental health clinical nursing, and adult/medical surgical nursing. The university also received top ratings in many medical specialties and scientific sub-disciplines.

The rankings also include previous assessments of other types of schools, which U.S. News surveys, but not on an annual basis. In its most recent ranking, in 2008, UCSF School of Pharmacy was ranked number one. In its most recent ranking, in 2010, the UCSF graduate programs in the biological sciences tied for seventh place, with the specialties of immunology/infectious disease ranked second and neuroscience ranked third. The surveys do not rank dental schools.

“These rankings showcase the high quality of UCSF’s educational and research enterprise across the board,” said UCSF chancellor, Dr. Susan Desmond-Hellmann. “But moving beyond the numbers, they reflect the excellence and hard work of all the UCSF faculty and staff and the breadth of experience available to every student who comes here to study.”

According to the magazine, the overall medical school rankings are based on two types of data: surveys sent last fall to medical school deans and administrators, and statistical indicators provided by 126 medical schools fully accredited in 2010 by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, as well as by the 20 schools of osteopathic medicine fully accredited by the American Osteopathic Association.

These data measured such factors as acceptance rates, faculty resources, and the number of graduates entering primary care. Research activity also was measured by funding from the National Institutes of Health.

Specialty rankings for medical schools were based on surveys of medical school deans and senior faculty. Rankings for nursing were based on surveys sent to deans, administrators, and faculty at programs in those fields.

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