Type | Private |
---|---|
Established | 1875 |
Parent institution | Vanderbilt University |
Endowment | US$551 million (2007) [1] |
Dean | Jeff Balser |
Academic staff | 2,718 (1,630 full-time, 996 part-time/voluntary, and 92 emeritus) |
Students | 607 Total |
Location | , , 36°08′38″N86°48′04″W / 36.144°N 86.801°W |
Campus | Urban |
Website | medschool.vanderbilt.edu |
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) is the graduate medical school of Vanderbilt University, a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee. The School of Medicine is primarily housed within the Eskind Biomedical Library which sits at the intersection of the Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) campuses [2] and claims several Nobel laureates in the field of medicine. Through the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network, VUSM is affiliated with over 60 hospitals and 5,000 clinicians across Tennessee and five neighboring states which manage more than 2 million patient visits each year. As the home hospital of the medical school, VUMC is considered one of the largest academic medical centers in the United States and is the primary resource for specialty and primary care in hundreds of adult and pediatric specialties for patients throughout the Mid-South. [3]
The Vanderbilt University School of Medicine was founded in 1851 as the school of medicine at the University of Nashville and only became affiliated with Vanderbilt University in 1874. [4] The first degrees issued by Vanderbilt University were to 61 Doctors of Medicine in February 1875, thanks to an arrangement that recognized the University of Nashville's medical school as serving both institutions. The arrangement continued for 20 more years, until the school was reorganized under the control of the Vanderbilt Board of Trustees. [4] In the early days, the School of Medicine was owned and operated as a private property of the practicing physicians who composed the faculty and received the fees paid by students. At this time, the course of medical instruction consisted of just three years of schooling, which was extended to four years starting in 1898. [4] Vanderbilt University made no financial contribution to the school's support and exercised no control over admission requirements, the curriculum, or standards for graduation. In 1925, the school moved from the old South Campus across town to the main campus, thus integrating instruction in the medical sciences with the rest of the university.
The school changed fundamentally during the next decades. The new medical campus finally brought together the School of Medicine, its hospital, the outpatient clinics, laboratory space, and medical library into one location. [4] The move also put the school adjacent to the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, which had been founded in 1909. [4] Other internal developments included the establishment of a department of Pediatrics (1928) and a department of Radiology (1936) and the acquisition of one of the school's first large research grants, a $250,000 award from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1932. [4] The research happening at Vanderbilt during this time included advancements that had far-reaching implications for the practice of medicine. Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas conducted research into blue baby syndrome that led to their 1933 medical-first neonatal cardiothoracic surgery, which formed the basis for the development of the Blalock–Taussig shunt, a life-saving procedure for infants with the Tetralogy of Fallot. [4] [5] And in the early 1940s, the process for culturing vaccines in chick embryos was developed by Vanderbilt's Ernest William Goodpasture, a feat that allowed for the mass production of vaccines for diseases like yellow fever, smallpox, and typhus. [4] During the latter half of the 20th century, there was a further expansion of the school's clinical mission and research achievements. The school established a formal department of Anesthesiology in 1945 to build on the school's already significant commitment to the use of anesthetics during procedures, which had its roots in the development of the first ether-oxygen apparatus in 1907 by Vanderbilt's James Gwathmey. [4] The research at the school received a boost with the founding of a federally-funded Clinical Research Center in 1960. [4] The services that the school and medical center provided for children grew tremendously with the start of a department of Neonatology and the world's first neonatal intensive care unit in 1961, [6] led by Mildred T. Stahlman, and the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, which opened its doors in 1970. [4] The research at the school of medicine also garnered two Nobel prizes during this time, with the 1971 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine going to Earl Wilbur Sutherland Jr. for his work on cyclic AMP [7] and Stanley Cohen sharing in the 1986 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on growth factors. [8]
In March 2014, the institution was being sued by the federal government in a whistle-blower case for a decade-long Medicare fraud scheme. [9] In May 2015, a federal court ruled that the Vanderbilt University Medical Center was in violation of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act for laying off 200 employees without adequate notice and would have to pay out $400,000, pending an appeal. [10]
In November 2014, the university admitted that one of its scientists fraudulently falsified six years of biomedical research in high-profile journals. [11] The scientist, Igor Dzhura, was a senior research associate hired by Vanderbilt University's Department of Biomedical Engineering. [12] His research was published in Nature Cell Biology , The Journal of Physiology , Circulation , and The FASEB Journal , in 2000-2005; [12] it was cited "more than 500 times." [11]
While Vanderbilt University owned and operated the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) that serves the medical school for much of its history, in 2016 the hospitals and clinics of the medical center were incorporated into a new entity which operates independent of Vanderbilt University's control. This organization, also called the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, is clinically and academically affiliated with Vanderbilt University. [13]
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine ranks 5th among the nation's elite programs, according to U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking of top medical schools for research, released in the 2023 edition of America's Best Graduate Schools. Vanderbilt University School of Medicine also ranks 82nd in the top medical schools for primary care. Vanderbilt University School of Medicine also ranks No. 8 in the nation among U.S. medical schools in total grant support provided through the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The new ranking raises VUSM's standing two spots from the No. 10 position it held last year. Among VUSM's basic science departments, Biochemistry ranks third; Cell and Developmental Biology, first; Molecular Physiology & Biophysics, third; and Pharmacology, sixth. Six clinical departments ranked among the top 10, including: Internal Medicine, third; Ophthalmology, ninth; Otolaryngology and Hearing & Speech Sciences, sixth; Pediatrics, fourth; Radiology & Radiologic Sciences, eighth; and Surgery, eighth.
The Vanderbilt University Medical Center is the only Level I Trauma Center in Middle Tennessee. [14] The trauma center serves a large geographic area stretching from Southern Kentucky to Northern Alabama in what amounts to a 65,000-square-mile catchment area. [15] A part of Vanderbilt Health, VUMC has 834 licensed beds between Vanderbilt University Hospital, Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital and Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital. According to U.S. News & World Report's 2015-16 rankings, VUMC is the No. 1 hospital in the Nashville metro area and in Tennessee overall. The following units comprise VUMC: [16]
With over 21,500 employees (including 2,876 full-time faculty), Vanderbilt is the largest private employer in Middle Tennessee and the second largest in the state (after FedEx, headquartered in Memphis). Approximately 74% of the university's faculty and staff are employed by the Medical Center. [14]
As of 2022, the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine offers 10 single professional degrees: [13]
Also as of 2022, the school offers the following dual degree programs: [13]
The school also offers a Medical Innovators Development Program (MIDP), which is an M.D. track tailored to students interested in medical innovation and design. [13]
The School of Medicine will add a new degree program, a Master of Imaging Science, in the 2023-24 academic year. [17]
The Tulane University School of Medicine is the medical school of Tulane University and is located in the Medical District of the New Orleans Central Business District in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is a public medical school in Memphis, Tennessee. It includes the Colleges of Health Professions, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy. Since 1911, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center has educated nearly 57,000 health care professionals. As of 2010, U.S. News & World Report ranked the College of Pharmacy 17th among American pharmacy schools.
The Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is a medical provider with multiple hospitals in Nashville, Tennessee, as well as clinics and facilities throughout Middle Tennessee. VUMC is an independent non-profit organization, but maintains academic affiliations with Vanderbilt University. As of 2023, the health system had more than 3 million patient visits a year, a workforce of 40,000, and 1,741 licensed hospital beds.
Weill Cornell Medicine, formally the Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University, is the biomedical research and medical school of Cornell University. It is located on the Upper East Side of New York City.
The Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM), located on the Health Science Campus of Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is one of seven schools of medicine in Pennsylvania that confers the Doctor of Medicine degree. It also confers Ph.D and M.S. degrees in biomedical science, and offers a Narrative Medicine program.
Jeffrey R. Balser is the president and CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM). Balser is a 1990 graduate of the Vanderbilt M.D./Ph.D. program in pharmacology and subsequently completed residency training in anesthesiology and fellowship training in critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins. He continued to work at Johns Hopkins as a cardiac anesthesiologist and ICU physician before returning to Vanderbilt University and joining VUMC in 1998. Balser was appointed dean of the VUSM in 2008 and, the following year, was appointed the vice chancellor for health affairs at Vanderbilt, in charge of the medical center. He became president and CEO of VUMC in 2016 when the medical center became a financially distinct non-profit organization.
Mildred Thornton Stahlman was an American neonatologist and academic. She worked as a professor of pediatrics and pathology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
The University of Utah School of Medicine is located on the upper campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was founded in 1905 and is currently the only MD-granting medical school in the state of Utah.
Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, also known as Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, is a nationally ranked pediatric acute care children's teaching hospital and entity of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. The hospital is affiliated with Vanderbilt University School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics.
The University of Tennessee College of Medicine is one of six graduate schools of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) in downtown Memphis. The oldest public medical school in Tennessee, the UT College of Medicine is a LCME-accredited member of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and awards graduates of the four-year program Doctor of Medicine (MD) degrees. The college's primary focus is to provide practicing health professionals for the state of Tennessee.
David Charles is an American neurologist, professor and vice-chair of neurology, and the medical director of Telehealth at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Consuelo H. Wilkins is an American physician, biomedical researcher, and health equity expert. She is Senior Vice President and Senior Associate Dean for Health Equity and Inclusive Excellence at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is a professor of medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and has a joint appointment at Meharry Medical College. She additionally serves as one of the principal investigators of the Vanderbilt Clinical and Translational Science Award, Director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Community Engaged Research Core (CTSA) and as vice president for Health Equity at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Thomas L. Maddin (1826–1908) was an American physician. He treated African-American slaves in Alabama in the antebellum era. He served as the director of a hospital for the Confederate States Army in Nashville, Tennessee, during the American Civil War. He was a professor of medicine at the University of Nashville and the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Grant Winder Liddle was an American endocrinologist whose research focused largely on the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. He was a professor at Vanderbilt University and chaired its Department of Medicine from 1968 to 1983.
Marshall L. Summar is an American physician, clinical geneticist and academic specializing in the field of genetics and rare disease. He is board-certified in pediatrics, biochemical genetics and clinical genetics. He is best known for his work in caring and developing treatments for children with rare genetic diseases.
Manish Kumar Sethi is an American physician and former political candidate. He is the president and founder of the non-profit Healthy Tennessee and an orthopedic trauma surgeon at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Sethi serves as the Director of the Vanderbilt Orthopedic Institute Center for Health Policy and is the lead author of the books An Introduction to Health Policy and Orthopedic Traumatology: An Evidence Based Approach.
James Earl Crowe Jr. is an American immunologist and pediatrician as well as Professor of Pediatrics and Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Barney S. Graham is an American immunologist, virologist, and clinical trials physician.
W. Kimryn Rathmell is an American physician-scientist whose work focuses on the research and treatment of patients with kidney cancers. She is the 17th Director of the National Cancer Institute, having previously served as the Hugh Jackson Morgan Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), and Physician-in-Chief for Vanderbilt University Adult Hospital and Clinics in Nashville, Tennessee. On November 17, 2023, Rathmell was nominated by President Biden as the next Director of the National Cancer Institute and she assumed office on December 18, 2023.
Harry R. Jacobson is an American physician executive and entrepreneur who served as the vice chancellor for health affairs and CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center from 1997 to 2009.