Dean's Message

Rankings show success of School of Medicine education and research programs
       I'm pleased to report that the School of Medicine was once again in the top tier of U.S. News and World Report magazine's annual ranking of medical schools.
       Our medical school appears in the 17th position in the overall ranking of medical schools and 14th in the primary care rankings. Our family medicine program placed seventh in specialty programs ranked best by medical school deans and senior faculty. Under engineering programs, CWRU's biomedical engineering department, a joint department between the medical school and the Case School of Engineering, was ranked sixth nationally. The CWRU medical school was ranked high in reputation by residency directors, so CWRU medical students must be making a great impression when they leave our campus.
       These rankings, which appeared in the April 10 issue of U.S. News and World Report magazine, are also available from U.S. News Online (http://www.usnews.com).
       In other news of rankings, grant funding from the National Institutes of Health to Case Western Reserve University's School of Medicine grew 9.5 percent in fiscal year 1999, up to $142.3 million from the previous fiscal year's $129.9 million.
       This is the 13th consecutive year that the medical school has experienced growth in NIH funds, a leading indicator of a medical school's research activity. The NIH, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the nation's largest provider of medical research support.
       The school ranked first among Ohio's six medical schools, receiving about $30 million more funding than all of the other Ohio medical schools combined. The ranking places us among the top tier of the nation's medical schools.
       Nine CWRU departments were among the top 10 in their fields:

• First: orthopaedic surgery
• Fourth: genetics
• Fifth: pediatrics
• Seventh: biostatistics, nutrition
• Eighth: dermatology, neurosciences, physiology
• Ninth: medicine

       Funds were awarded to CWRU faculty based at the School of Medicine, University Hospitals of Cleveland (UHC), MetroHealth Medical Center, the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit. The largest portion of the grants was awarded to faculty members at UHC, the medical school's primary affiliate, continuing UHC's prominence as Ohio's leading hospital for funding awards from the NIH.
       Last year, we were on a trajectory to hit $200 million by the year 2010. This year, our rise is even steeper, so we may reach the $200 million mark a couple of years earlier than our goal.
       NIH funding is important to Northeast Ohio because it represents tax dollars from the federal government returning to the region. The funds help create jobs in high-tech fields, support research leading to new knowledge about and treatments for diseases, and make discoveries with which new biotechnology companies can be created to contribute to the economy, as well as our health care.
       This year's ranking, with CWRU in 13th position, makes it clear how important our $300 million capital campaign is for this medical school to maintain its prominence among the nation's top-tier schools. Other medical schools have initiated major research programs and are building facilities that are causing them to move up at a pace equal to or greater than ours. If we are to be a top-tier medical school, it is imperative for us to build the research facilities required to attract and keep leading researchers in Cleveland. Medical research is a vital part of the regional economy, and we must undertake the type of support for research that is occurring in other areas of the country, such as Boston; Baltimore; New Haven, Conn.; San Francisco; New York; and Chapel Hill, N.C.

Sincerely,

Nathan A. Berger, M.D.
Vice President for Medical Affairs
and Dean, School of Medicine