University of North Carolina ousts the University of Washington as top medical school for primary care

The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC) was the top-ranked medical school for primary care in 2013, unseating the University of Washington from last year’s ranking, according to U.S. News & World Report.

UNC moved up one slot from number two this year to claim the top spot but also earned recognition as the second best medical school for family medicine, the fifth best for rural care, and 22nd in research.

“Our vision is to be the nation’s leading public medical school,” says William Roper, MD, MPH, dean of the UNC School of Medicine and chief executive officer of the UNC Health Care System. “Primary care is an area of tremendous importance to the health of our state and the nation.”

The remaining top 10 medical schools for primary care, in order, are the University of Washington, Oregon Health and Science University, the University of California-San Francisco, the University of Colorado-Denver, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the University of Minnesota, the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, the University of Massachusetts-Worcester, and the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

The top schools for family medicine were similar, with the University of Washington capturing the number one spot, followed by the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the University of Colorado-Denver, the University of California-San Francisco, the Oregon Health and Science University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of New Mexico, Duke University, the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and the University of Minnesota.

The top five medical schools for internal medicine included (in order) John Hopkins University, the University of California-San Francisco, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Duke University.

U.S. News & World Report contacted the 126 medical schools fully accredited in 2012 by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, plus the 23 schools of osteopathic medicine fully accredited by the American Osteopathic Association. Surveys were sent out in fall 2012 and early 2013, and 114 schools provided the necessary data to be included in the medical school primary care rating. The primary care rankings are based on seven indicators, including student selectivity admission statistics, faculty-to-student ratios, and the number of graduates entering primary care specialties.

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