UCSF Schools of Pharmacy, Nursing and Medicine rank high in new survey

By Wallace Ravven

UCSF’s School of Pharmacy ranks first, the School of Nursing second, and the School of Medicine fifth among all graduate schools in their fields in a new survey conducted and published by “U.S. News & World Report.”

The new pharmacy school rankings are for overall quality judged by deans and senior faculty nationally. Individual pharmacy programs are not assessed.

Medical schools were assessed for both the quality of the research training and their primary care training. The UCSF School of Medicine ranks in the top 10 in both categories and is one of only three universities in the country-along with Harvard and University of Washington-to do so and is the only one in California.  UCSF ranks fifth in the quality of its research training and sixth in its primary care training. 

The medical school also ranks among the top 10 in all of its clinical specialties that were ranked by the survey. It ranks seventh nationally in the survey’s new assessment of overall quality of biological sciences doctoral programs. Its science specialty programs rank among the top 10 in all of its programs that were assessed.

The rankings, released March 28, also include last year’s assessments for schools of nursing and for nursing specialties. Seven out of eight UCSF nursing specialty programs were ranked in the top 10 nationally.

The US News rankings do not include dental schools.

Deans of the three UCSF schools ranked in the survey highlighted the significance of the findings.

“Our success in rankings such as these has a lot to do with the fact that we don’t rest on past achievements,” said Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, PharmD, dean of the UCSF School of Pharmacy. “We press ahead. Our goal is to educate pharmacists who will be innovative health care providers and advocates for the patients they serve. So in many ways, this ranking reflects the leadership of our graduates.”

“Our continued ranking as one of the nation’s top five medical schools and in the top 10 in all seven of our specialties ranked by the survey reflect UCSF’s commitment to outstanding research, education and patient care,” said Sam Hawgood, MD, chairman of pediatrics and interim dean of the School of Medicine.

Kathleen Dracup, RN, DNSc, dean of the UCSF School of Nursing, said, “This report further validates our efforts to meet the nation’s health care needs by preparing the next generation of nurse clinicians, researchers, and educators. We are pleased that our commitment to quality is reflected in top rankings across our clinical specialties.”

Highlights of the US News graduate school rankings are scheduled for publication in the April 7-14 edition of the magazine, available on newsstands March 31.

UCSF School of Medicine national rankings in its specialty programs, according to the survey, are:

* AIDS—1
* Women’s health—2
* Internal medicine—3
* Drug/alcohol abuse—5
* Family medicine—8
* Pediatrics—9
* Geriatrics—9

UCSF national rankings in doctoral science programs:

* Immunology/Infectious disease—3
* Biochemistry/biophysics/structural biology—4
* Cell biology—4
* Molecular biology—4
* Genetics/genomics/bioinformatics—6
* Neuroscience/neurobiology—6
* Microbiology—7

In the national nursing specialty and master’s rankings, published last year, and again published in this year’s assessments, UCSF’s programs ranked as follows:

* Adult/medical-surgical—1
* Psychiatric/mental health—2
* Adult nurse practitioner—2
* Family nurse practitioner—2
* Pediatric nurse practitioner—5
* Gerontological nurse practitioner—7
* Nursing service administration—7
* Nursing midwifery (Master’s)—3

The medical school rankings are based on assessments of research activity and primary-care programs by deans and senior faculty, admission acceptance rates and faculty resources. Specialty rankings were based on ratings by medical school deans and senior faculty at peer schools.

Health rankings are based on results of peer assessments. The sciences rankings are based on results of surveys sent to academics.

The US News graduate school rankings can be found online at:
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad

Pharmacy rankings:
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/pha/search

Medicine rankings:
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/med

Nursing rankings:
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/nur/search

Nursing-Midwifery:
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/nmp/search