April 1, 2004

Dear Colleagues:

Congratulations! Once again, we’re in good company in U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of medical schools. Of the nation’s 125 accredited medical schools, only Harvard and Washington University in St. Louis outscored The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

For 13 years in a row, we ranked #2, a spot we shared with WashU last year. As we say each year, the differences among the top ten are minor (our “score” was 95 compared to WashU’s 96), and we congratulate them all. Although it’s always a bit disappointing to slip in such lists, we are honored to be among the best of the best.

Our school, and its extraordinary faculty and staff, also can take pride in the lineup of clinical specialties ranked tops by medical school deans and senior faculty at peer schools in the magazine’s Best Graduate Schools 2004 edition that goes on sale Monday, April 7.

This year we’ve been ranked #1 in Internal Medicine (up from #2), as well as in Drug/Alcohol Abuse and Geriatrics; #2 in Pediatrics (up from #3, just behind Harvard); #2 in AIDS (behind the University of California, San Francisco); and #4 in Women’s Health.

Among Engineering specialty programs, we ranked #1 in Biomedical Engineering again. In a separate listing of top Primary Care Medical Schools, we ranked #46. Basic sciences, public health and nursing were not reviewed this year.
According to the magazine, it bases its medical school rankings on a combination of two reputational surveys (one of deans/senior faculty and another of directors of intern-residency programs) and objective data (such things as research awarded to the medical school and all its affiliated hospitals, student selectivity, and faculty resources).

Rounding out the magazine’s top ten medical schools overall are Harvard University, Washington University in St. Louis, Duke University, University of Pennsylvania, University of California-San Francisco, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Stanford and Yale tied for #10.

We know that these rankings are not entirely "scientific," and I don’t need them to treasure your hard work and accomplishments. But as Johns Hopkins and all academic medical centers continue to face intense public scrutiny, rapid change, and economic challenges and uncertainties, it is extraordinarily gratifying to me that others recognize your unflagging commitment to excellence. Thanks to each and every one of you.

Edward D. Miller, M.D.
Dean of the Medical Faculty
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine