U.S. News & World Report Recognizes UAMS’ Colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Public Health
| U.S. News & World Report recognized the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ (UAMS) College of Medicine, College of Nursing and the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health on its latest Best Graduate Schools lists.
UAMS ranked 36th in primary care on U.S. News’ 2023 list of Best Medical Schools.
UAMS moved up three notches from last year, when it was ranked 39th in the primary care category, which was a significant jump from its ranking of 63rd in 2021.
The annual list, released March 29, also ranked UAMS 36th for producing the most primary care graduates and, for the second year in a row, 20th for training physicians to serve rural areas.
In addition, the annual U.S. News ranking of graduate schools placed UAMS’ Master’s in Nursing program 61st in the nation, its Doctor of Nursing program 62nd and its public health program 79th.
Previously, UAMS’ nursing programs weren’t considered for ranking, and its public health program was ranked 90th; public health isn’t ranked every year.
“We were very pleased to be recognized again as one of the nation’s best medical schools for education in primary care, graduating a high percentage of physicians who go on to practice primary care and generating much-needed doctors for our rural communities,” said Susan Smyth, M.D., Ph.D., executive vice chancellor of UAMS and dean of the College of Medicine. “All of these are key to our ability to reduce health disparities and ensure good health for all Arkansans today and in the years to come.”
The primary care rankings stemmed from a survey of 192 accredited medical and osteopathic schools from which data was collected and then combined with results of peer surveys. UAMS tied with the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, and Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Patricia Cowan, Ph.D., RN, dean of the College of Nursing, said she was “delighted that UAMS’ masters in nursing science and doctor of nursing programs have been ranked in the top 100 nationally, and we are equally delighted that our bachelor of science program was ranked 43rd nationally in the Best Nursing School category.”
The undergraduate rankings were released in November, and UAMS’ BSN program tied for 43rd out of 694 schools.
The masters in nursing rankings involved an evaluation of 564 schools, and the doctor of nursing programs were evaluated at 343 schools.
The public health ranking involved a review of 195 schools and was based solely on peer surveys.
“The UAMS Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health is not, by national standards, a large school of public health,” said Dean Mark Williams, Ph.D. “Therefore, this ranking is an indication of the quality of the program and faculty in the college.”
In the College of Medicine, “We are extraordinarily pleased that so many of our graduates choose a primary care specialty and are actually practicing primary care when they finish training,” said James Graham, M.D., executive associate dean for academic affairs.
Forty-eight percent of the College of Medicine’s Class of 2022 recently matched to primary care residencies for the next stage of training as physicians.
“Because primary care physicians play such a key role in addressing prevention and care of chronic illnesses like high blood pressure and diabetes, continuing to improve in producing primary care physicians is likely to improve the health of Arkansans,” Graham said.
Designed for prospective students looking to further their education beyond college, the Best Graduate School rankings evaluate programs in a variety of disciplines besides medicine, nursing and public health.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,275 students, 890 medical residents and fellows, and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###