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. 2022 Sep 13;14(9):e29100. doi: 10.7759/cureus.29100

Trends in Medical Training and Leadership at Academic Orthopedic Programs

Seleem H Elkadi 1,, Stiles Donaldson 1, Emily Krisanda 1, Michael W Kessler 2
Editors: Alexander Muacevic, John R Adler
PMCID: PMC9557866  PMID: 36249616

Abstract

Introduction: When deciding on which programs to rank or fellowships to enter, medical students and residents may assess the program's prestige and specialty training opportunities. This report aimed to analyze the demographics of orthopedic department chairs and program directors (PDs), focusing on the prestige of their orthopedic training and medical school. Secondary data included fellowship, higher-level education, sex, professorship, years of practice, and total published research.

Methods: We used U.S. News and Doximity to rank 192 medical schools and 200 orthopedic residency programs based on prestige rankings, respectively. We searched for the department chair, vice-chair, and PD via program websites, Council of Orthopaedic Residency Directors (CORD), Orthopedic Residency Information Network (ORIN), personal websites, LinkedIn, and Doximity. Subsequently, we searched for each individual’s demographic information, education and research history, employment history, and medical school attended.

Results: We gathered data on 268 orthopedic surgeons with leadership positions at academic hospitals. Of the 268, 115 were department chairs, 15 were vice-chairs, 126 were PDs, 11 were both the chair and PD, and one was vice-chair and PD. Of the 268 physicians, 244 physicians were male (91.0%), while 22 were female (9.0%). The average residency reputation ranking overall was 59.7 ± 5.7. More specifically, for chairs, the average was 57.0 ± 8.3 (p < 0.005), and for PDs, the average was 63.6 ± 8.0 (p <0.005). There was no significant difference between chairs and PDs (p = 0.26).

Conclusion: Orthopedic leaders were found to have trained at more prestigious programs. This trend could be explained by increased research opportunities at more prestigious programs or programs attempting to increase their own reputation. 9.0% of the leaders identify as female, which is comparable to the 6.5% of practicing female orthopedic surgeons. However, this further demonstrates a need for gender equity in orthopedic surgery. Assessing trends in the training of orthopedic surgeons with leadership positions will allow a better understanding of what programs look for in the hiring process.

Keywords: women, residency, ranking, orthopedics, program director, vice-chair, chair

Introduction

Historically, academic leadership positions such as the chair and program director (PD) were devoted to patient care, research, and teaching, but as the medical system evolves, there has been a shift toward administrative tasks [1]. Recent data has shown that department chairs specifically only spend 40 to 45% of their time on clinical activities, leaving 50 to 55% of their time for budgeting, staffing, financial management, negotiations, and contracting [2]. This information begs the question of whether the prestige of chairs’ and PDs' residency training is essential to their selection.

Past literature has analyzed the qualities and traits of orthopedic leadership, but there is minimal published literature analyzing what is academically required to attain one of these leadership positions [2,3]. Bi et al. recently published a paper analyzing demographic information, residency, and fellowship location of department chairs and PDs at academic institutions. While accounting for national subspecialty size, it was found that orthopedic oncology and orthopedic trauma surgeons were overrepresented while reconstructive surgeons were underrepresented amongst department chairs and PDs. Chairs had more publications than PDs and were more likely to be professors, while PDs were more likely to remain in the same program as their residency training [4].

One area of orthopedics that has gained much attention is the lack of females in leadership positions. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) 2018 census found that self-reported females only made up 5.8% of the AAOS membership [5]. A study in 2021 showed only 2% of department chairs and 11.2% of PDs identified as female, which continues to lag behind the 5.8% found in the AAOS census [4]. However, in 2016, there was only one female department chair, showing that orthopedics is continuing to move towards becoming a more diverse field [6,7].

There is a paucity of literature on whether medical school or residency program reputation influences who is hired to academic orthopedic leadership positions. Literature has shown that medical school ranking plays a role in the orthopedic surgery match, while residency program reputation contributes to fellowship match results [8-10]. We hypothesize that those in academic orthopedic leadership positions attended medical school and orthopedic residency programs with higher reputation rankings.

This report aims to analyze the demographics of orthopedic department chairs and PDs, focusing on the prestige of their orthopedic training and medical school. Secondary data included fellowship, higher-level education, self-reported gender, professorship, years of practice, and total published research.

Materials and methods

Two hundred Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), Doctor of Medicine (MD), and Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) residency programs located in the United States as of December 2021 were identified. Program websites, CORD (Council of Orthopaedic Residency Directors) Orthopedic Residency Information Network (ORIN), personal websites, LinkedIn, and Doximity were searched for the PD, department chair, and vice-chairs and then subsequently searched for demographic information, education, research history, employment history, and medical school attended for each individual. If there was a discrepancy between information on program websites and other sources, data was recorded from the program websites. All data was gathered in March 2022.

Demographic data included the name of the residency program, professorship level, and sex. Professorship levels included professor, associate professor, assistant professor, professor emeritus, and non-professors. Education and research history included program and year of orthopedic internship and residency; name, year, and title of fellowship; the total number of publications, any master's training (MPH {Master of Public Health}, MBA (Masters in Business Administration}, etc.) or a PhD (Doctorate in Philosophy). The number of publications was obtained from the PubMed publications listed on each individual’s Doximity account. If that information was not available, the physician was searched on PubMed manually.

U.S. News rankings were used to determine the rankings of each medical school, while Doximity rankings for reputation and research were used for residency program rankings. The U.S. News research ranking is a composite score consisting of a peer assessment score (15%), residency director assessment score (15%), median Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) score (13%), median undergraduate grade point average (GPA) (6%), acceptance rate (1%), faculty resources (10%), total federal research activity (30%), and average federal research activity per faculty member (10%) [11]. Doximity calculates the reputation of residency programs by surveying each orthopedic Doximity member, verified by board certification, allowing each to nominate five programs while weighting each vote inversely to the size of alumni [12].

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria were status as chair, vice-chair, or PD and professor (professor, assistant professor, or associate professor) at their respective MD or DO ACGME accredited orthopedic residency programs. Exclusion criteria were physicians with interim positions, professor emeritus, non-professor or clinical professor, residency programs outside the 50 States of the United States (thus, excluding Puerto Rico), and residency training in a different specialty.

Given the 200 ACGME accredited programs and the three positions of leadership we planned to assess, we expected to gather data on 600 physicians. After searching each program's website, we found 350 physicians fulfilling 363 leadership roles. Thirteen physicians held multiple leadership roles in their program. To assess physicians with permanent roles, we excluded physicians with interim roles, which excluded five physicians. To assess physicians with academic titles, we only assessed physicians with professorships in orthopedics at their respective institutions. This excluded 68 physicians, one of which had multiple roles. Finally, we excluded 14 physicians with orthopedic training outside of the United States since those were not ranked in the Doximity rankings. This restriction narrowed the total to 268 physicians satisfying 280 roles (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Leadership inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Figure 1

Inclusion criteria were set to include physicians with permanent leadership positions with academic titles. Furthermore, to assess residency reputation ranking, only those with residency training inside the United States were included.

Statistical analysis

Statistical analysis included the assessment of averages and frequencies of demographic and research data. We used univariate data analysis comparing the reputation rankings of orthopedic residency training program rankings of chairs and PDs with two-sample t-tests. In addition, we used univariate data analysis comparing the reputation rankings of orthopedic residency training program rankings of the faculty in leadership positions versus the expected reputation ranking with two-sample t-tests. The expected reputation ranking was calculated by finding the weighted average of the residency ranking. The weighted average was determined first by finding the weighted value of each program, which was obtained by multiplying each residency ranking by the total number of residents at each program. Then, we took the sum of the weighted values and divided this number by the total of 4567 resident positions across the 200 U.S. residency programs to determine the weighted average. To assess for frequency of females in leadership positions, we used a Pearson’s chi-square test using the 2018 AAOS Census as expected data [5]. Finally, to compare fellowship trends in orthopedic academic chairs, vice-chairs, and program directors to orthopedics as a whole, we used the 2018 AAOS Census data for the percentage of each fellowship orthopedic surgeon pursued [5]. P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Due to the number of unranked medical schools, statistical analysis was not performed on this data.

Results

Total leadership statistics

In total, we gathered data on 115 department chairs, 15 vice-chairs, 126 PDs, 11 with both titles of chair and PD, and one with the title of vice-chair and PD. In total, there were 244 males and 24 females (9.0% female). One hundred sixty were professors (59.7%), 62 were associate professors (23.1%), and 46 were assistant professors (17.2%). On average, the physicians completed 23 years of graduating from orthopedic residency. Two hundred twenty-two of the 268 physicians completed one American fellowship (82.8%), 14 had done two American fellowships (5.2%), and one physician did three American fellowships (0.4%). Therefore, 237 of the physicians had completed at least one American fellowship (88.4%) On average, each physician had 60.7 publications on PubMed. Twenty-two of the 268 physicians had master's degrees (8.2%), and four of the physicians had PhD degrees (1.5%), two of which had both a master’s degree and a PhD (0.8%) (Table 1).

Table 1. Demographic Data of Academic Orthopedic Leadership.

*12 physicians with multiple titles (11 with both department chair and PD, one with vice-chair and PD)

SD = Standard deviation, CI = 95% confidence interval, PhD = Doctorate in Philosophy, MD = Doctor of Medicine, DO = Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

  Department Chair Vice-chair Program Directors Total
Total Number 126 16 138 268*
Males (%) 121 (96.0) 13 (81.3) 122 (88.4) 244 (91.0)
Females (%) 5 (4.0) 3 (18.7) 16 (11.6) 24 (9.0)
Years since Graduating Residency (years) (SD) 28.4 (7.1) 29.7 (12.0) 18.4 (9.0) 23.4 (9.9)
Additional Fellowship (%) 113 (89.6) 15 (93.8) 120 (87.0) 231 (86.2)
1 Fellowship (%) 103 (81.7) 14 (87.5) 116 (84.1) 222 (82.1)
2 Fellowship (%) 9 (7.1) 1 (6.3) 4 (2.9) 14 (5.2)
3 Fellowship (%) 1 (0.8) 0 (0) 0 (0) 1 (0.4)
Number of publications (SD) 91.8 (116.7) 48.7 (31.3) 35.7 (52.1) 60.7 (88.4)
Higher-Level Training (%) 15 (11.9) 4 (25.0) 6 (4.3) 24 (9.0)
Masters (%) 13 (10.3) 3 (18.8) 5 (3.6) 20 (7.5)
PhD (%) 1 (0.8) 0 (0) 1 (0.7) 2 (0.8)
Masters and PhD (%) 1 (0.8) 1 (6.3) 0 (0) 2 (0.8)
MD Degree (%) 124 (98.4) 14 (87.5) 134 (97.1) 262 (97.8)
DO Degree (%) 2 (1.6) 2 (12.5) 4 (2.9) 6 (97.8)
Average Reputation Residency Ranking (CI) 57.0  (8.3) - 63.6 (8.0) 59.7 (5.7)

Given the number of spots at each program, the expected average reputation ranking was 83.6. The average residency reputation of all the physicians was 59.7 ± 5.7 according to Doximity’s rankings (p < 0.005). The most common residency programs were Hospital for Special Surgery/Cornell Medical Center, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, and NYU Grossman School of Medicine/NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital, each producing eight physicians with leadership positions. Thirty-two of the 126 department chairs are chairs in the same program as their residency training (36.6%). The distribution of the programs can be seen in Figure 2. Two hundred and sixty-two physicians are MDs while six are DOs (97.8% MD). The distribution of their medical school ranking according to U.S. News can be seen in Figure 3.

Figure 2. The number of Academic Orthopedic Leadership compared to Residency Reputation Ranking.

Figure 2

Reputation rankings were determined using Doximity. The programs under NA were former residency programs that have been closed (Letterman Army Medical Center and Fitzsimons Army Medical Center).

Figure 3. The number of Academic Orthopedic Leadership compared to Medical School Ranking Ranking.

Figure 3

Medical rankings were determined using the U.S. News research ranking.

Department chair statistics

A total of 126 department chairs were found, with 11 of them also having the title of PD. In total, there were 121 males and 5 females (4.0% female). One hundred eight were professors (85.7%), 11 were associate professors (8.7%), and seven were assistant professors (5.6%). On average, the physicians completed 28 years of graduating from orthopedic residency. One hundred three of the 126 physicians completed one American fellowship (81.7%), nine had completed two American fellowships (7.1%), and one physician completed three American fellowships (0.8%). Therefore, 116 of the physicians completed at least one American fellowship (92.0%). On average, each physician had 91.8 publications on PubMed. Fourteen of the 126 physicians had master's degrees (11.1%), and two had PhD degrees (1.6%), one of which had both a master’s degree and a PhD (0.8%).

Vice-chair statistics

A total of 16 vice-chairs were found, with one of them also having the title of PD. In total there were 13 males and three females (18.8% female). Thirteen were professors (81.3%), two were associate professors (12.5%), and one was an assistant professor (6.3%). On average, the physicians completed 30 years of graduating from orthopedic residency. Fourteen of the 16 physicians completed one American fellowship (87.5%), and one completed two American fellowships (6.3%). Therefore, 15 of the physicians completed at least one American fellowship (93.8%). On average the physicians had 48.7 publications on PubMed. Four of the 16 physicians had master's degrees (25.0%), one of which had both a master’s degree and a PhD (6.3%).

The average residency reputation of all the physicians was 56.6 according to Doximity’s rankings. The most common residency program was Wake Forest University School of Medicine. The distribution of the programs can be seen in Figure 2. Seven of the 16 are vice-chair in the same program as their residency training (43.8%). Fourteen of the physicians had their MD while two had a DO (87.5% MD). The distribution of their medical school ranking according to U.S. News can be seen in Figure 3.

Program director statistics

A total of 138 PDs were found, with 11 of them also having the title of the chair, and one also having the title of vice-chair. In total, there were 122 males and 16 females (11.6% female). Forty-six were professors (33.3%), 53 were associate professors (38.4%), and 39 were assistant professors (28.3%). On average, the physicians completed 18 years of graduating from orthopedic residency. One hundred sixteen of the 138 physicians completed one American fellowship (84.0%), and four completed two American fellowships (2.9%). Therefore, 120 of the physicians completed at least one American fellowship (87.0%). On average the physicians had 35.7 publications on PubMed. Five of the 138 PDs had master's degrees (3.6%), and one of the PDs had a PhD (0.7%). No PD had both a master's and a PhD. 

Department chairs versus program director residency Doximity reputation ranking

The average residency reputation of all the chairs was 57.0 ± 8.3, according to Doximity’s rankings (p < 0.005). The most common residency programs to appear with five chairs each were the University of Rochester and NYU Grossman School of Medicine/NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital. The distribution of the programs can be seen in Figure 2. Thirty-two of the 126 department chairs are chairs in the same program as their residency training (25.4%). One hundred twenty-four of the physicians had their MD while two had a DO (98.4% MD). The distribution of their medical school ranking according to U.S. News can be seen in Figure 3.

The average residency reputation of all the PDs was 63.6 ± 8.0, according to Doximity’s rankings (p < 0.005). The most common residency programs to appear with four PDs each was Hospital for Special Surgery/Cornell Medical Center, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science (Rochester), and SUNY (The State University of New York) Downstate Health Sciences University. The distribution of the programs can be seen in Figure 2. Sixty-three of the 138 department chairs are chairs in the same program as their residency training (58.3%). One hundred thirty-four of the physicians had their MD while four had a DO (97.1% MD). The distribution of their medical school ranking according to U.S. News can be seen in Figure 3. We found no statistically significant difference in residency reputation rankings between department chairs and PDs (p = 0.26).

Gender distribution

We performed a Pearson’s chi-squared to assess the distribution of women in leadership. The data obtained from the 2018 AAOS Census was used as the expected value, which stated that women made up 5.8% of orthopedic attendings [5]. Twenty-four women held leadership positions, which was significantly different than the expected 15.5 women (p = 0.031). There was no significant difference in female chairs (p = 0.33), however, there was a significant difference in female PDs (p <0.005), with 16 females as PDs compared to the expected eight females.

When using data that states that females made up 17.8% of females at academic orthopedic institutions as the expected value, the results changed [6]. Twenty-four women overall had a position of leadership compared to the expected 47.7 women (p < 0.005). There were five female chairs compared to the expected 22.4 female chairs (p < 0.005), and 16 female PDs compared to the expected 24.6 female PDs (p = 0.056).

Fellowship data

We assessed the percentage of each fellowship represented in total and women orthopedic academic chairs, vice-chairs, and program directors. In total, while sports medicine was the most represented (14.6%), oncology and trauma were overrepresented at 10.1% and 13.1%, respectively, compared to the 2018 AAOS census data for all orthopedic surgeons (1.5% and 6.8%, respectively) [5] (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Orthopedic Fellowship Trends.

Figure 4

The following graph looks at the distribution of orthopedic fellowships in all orthopedics, females in orthopedics, all orthopedic chairs, vice-chairs, and PDs at academic institutions, and female orthopedic chairs, vice-chairs, and PDs at academic institutions. The data for the overall numbers for orthopedics came from the 2018 AAOS census. The data on chairs, vice-chairs, and PDs came from our own data.

Discussion

Previous literature has assessed the characteristics and patterns of faculty with leadership positions at academic orthopedic institutions. Common characteristics include significant research history and geographical ties to the location. Furthermore, there has been an increasing trend of faculty with leadership positions who are fellowship trained in either orthopedic trauma or orthopedic oncology. Finally, there remains to be a lack of females in leadership [1,3,4]. Our study aimed to expand on this data and further identify whether the reputation of their orthopedic training program correlates with those in leadership positions.

In order to assess those with leadership positions in academics, we assessed only physicians with professorship (professor, associate professor, or assistant professor) at their own academic institutions who were the chair, vice-chair, or PD. This limitation excluded leaders at hospitals who may interact with residents but do not have an academic title.

We found that around half (136/268) of academic orthopedic leaders were trained at a top 50 residency programs according to Doximity reputation rankings, with an average residency program reputation ranking of 59.7. The average residency reputation ranking for department chairs was 57.0, and for PDs was 63.6. There was no significant difference between the reputation rankings for department chairs and PDs, but there was a significant difference in the reputation rankings seen in this study compared to the expected reputation ranking value of 83.6 in all leadership positions.

This data implies that orthopedic leadership often comes from programs with an increased reputation. This trend can be due to a variety of reasons. Often programs with a higher reputation also produce a significant amount of research, which has been shown to be associated with those found in leadership in orthopedics [4]. Also, academic institutions may want to pursue physicians with training at higher ranking residency programs to improve their own reputation further. While many factors go into deciding which programs to rank when matching into a residency program, program reputation may play a role in those hoping to pursue an academic leadership position eventually.

With a large portion of the orthopedic surgeons in academic leadership attending unranked medical schools according to the U.S. News ranking, it was difficult to assess the data quantitatively. However, based on the chart, around half (142/268) of physicians came from a top 60 medical school. There are 192 medical schools, which implies a trend for orthopedic academic leaders to attend higher-ranking medical schools [11]. However, we were unable to assess the significance of this trend. Future research should attempt to quantify this data to determine objective trends. 

We found similar statistics in publications, years of experience, and fellowship distribution compared to previous studies [4]. Furthermore, we also found that the orthopedic oncology and orthopedic trauma fellowships were seen in a disproportionately high amount compared to the number of those that pursue these fellowships. We believe this may occur because orthopedic trauma and orthopedic oncology fellowships may result in these physicians remaining within a hospital system rather than in private practice. Chan et al. found that the top two orthopedic subspecialties with job listings, by percentage, in academic centers were orthopedic oncology and orthopedic trauma [13]. Furthermore, it may be easier for orthopedic oncologists and orthopedic trauma surgeons to pursue research and set themselves up for an academic orthopedic leadership position by remaining in a hospital system.

Furthermore, previous literature found that women remain underrepresented in academic orthopedic leadership positions [1,3,4]. Our data continues to support this. At the first glance, using the number of female orthopedic attendings provided by the AAOS, it seems like women are overrepresented in academic orthopedic leadership [5]. However, when using the number of full-time women orthopedic surgery faculty found in academic programs, we found that women continue to be underrepresented in leadership [6]. Correcting this trend may lead to more women pursuing orthopedics out of medical school. A number of studies have shown that women are more likely than men to indicate having a role model or mentor positively influences their pursuit of orthopedic surgery [6,7,14-18]. On the other hand in January 2020, Bi et al. found that 3/153 (2.0%) chairs and 18/161 (11.2%) of PDs were women in all residency programs, while our study found that 5/126 (4.0%) of chairs and 16/138 (11.6%) of PDs with an academic position were women as of March 2022 [4]. This represents a slight increase in women's representation, but it remains disproportionately low compared to the 17.8% of women with positions at academic institutions.

Finally, we assessed orthopedic fellowship trends amongst women. In 2020, Jurenovich et al. surveyed 252 women on their fellowship choices [19]. Women in this survey were more likely to pursue pediatric and hand fellowships and less likely to pursue a reconstructive fellowship compared to the 2018 AAOS census on total fellowship trends amongst all orthopedic surgeons. Similarly, we found that female orthopedic chairs, vice-chairs, and PDs at academic institutions were more likely to have completed a fellowship in pediatrics and hand, but less likely to pursue reconstruction. Women in academic leadership positions were also more likely to have a fellowship in oncology, which aligns with the fact that women tend to choose oncology more often, and oncology-trained orthopedic surgeons are more likely to be chairs, vice-chairs, and PDs (Figure 4). Therefore, even within orthopedics, women are disproportionately represented in each subspeciality compared to their peers. It has been reported that the biggest factor in females producing certain fellowships was pure enjoyment, while mentorship was not found to play a factor in fellowship choice, which contrasts with the importance of having a female model to choose a career in orthopedics [6,7,13-18]. Statistical analysis was not performed due to the limited number of females in academic leadership positions and the fellowship data coming from two different surveys. We recommend that future census collections assess fellowship choice amongst all genders.

Limitations of this study include the lack of standardization and accessibility of data surrounding orthopedic academic leadership, which has been discussed in numerous studies [4,20-22]. Standardization and easy access to this data would allow for a better understanding of trends related to orthopedics. However, cross-referencing Doximity with the academic websites allowed us to accurately assess the training programs of all the orthopedic academic leaders. Furthermore, due to the lack of public data surrounding vice-chairs, we could not analyze their training. Whether this data was unable to be found due to a lack of availability or whether programs have opted to have vice-chairs no longer should be assessed.

Conclusions

In conclusion, this study highlights that the average leader in academic orthopedics trained in a residency program with a higher than average reputation. This trend suggests that these surgeons had more access to research, or could have been hired due to an attempt by programs to improve their own reputation. Finally, women continue to be underrepresented in orthopedic academic leadership, and correcting this could lead to more women pursuing orthopedics.

Appendices

Table 2 demonstrates the reputation ranking data obtained from Doxmity, along with the number of residents at each program and the percentage of residents at this program.

Table 2. Doximity’s Orthopedic Surgery Reputation Ranking with Number of Residents.

Ranking School Number of Residents Percentage of Residents
1 Hospital for Special Surgery/Cornell Medical Center 45 1.0%
2 Washington University/B-JH/SLCH Consortium 40 0.9%
3 Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science (Rochester) 65 1.4%
4 NYU Grossman School of Medicine/NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital 70 1.5%
5 Duke University Hospital 40 0.9%
6 University of Washington 40 0.9%
7 Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School 60 1.3%
8 Rush University Medical Center 25 0.5%
9 Vanderbilt University Medical Center 25 0.5%
10 UPMC Medical Education 40 0.9%
11 University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics 30 0.7%
12 Emory University School of Medicine 30 0.7%
13 University of Pennsylvania Health System 40 0.9%
14 University of Utah Health 40 0.9%
15 Carolinas Medical Center 25 0.5%
16 University of California (San Francisco) 35 0.8%
17 Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University/TJUH 30 0.7%
18 Cleveland Clinic Foundation 30 0.7%
19 University of Virginia Medical Center 25 0.5%
20 Johns Hopkins University 30 0.7%
21 New York Presbyterian Hospital (Columbia Campus) 30 0.7%
22 Stanford Health Care-Sponsored Stanford University 35 0.8%
23 University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston 30 0.7%
24 University of Miami/Jackson Health System 35 0.8%
25 University of Minnesota 40 0.9%
26 University of Southern California/LAC+USC Medical Center 40 0.9%
27 McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University 45 1.0%
28 University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center 30 0.7%
29 University of Michigan Health System 40 0.9%
30 University of Rochester 40 0.9%
31 University of California Davis Health 25 0.5%
32 University of Tennessee/Campbell Clinic 40 0.9%
33 Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 35 0.8%
34 Prisma Health/University of South Carolina SOM Greenville (Greenville) 20 0.4%
35 Brown University 30 0.7%
36 Case Western Reserve University/University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center 30 0.7%
37 University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics 30 0.7%
38 Wake Forest University School of Medicine 25 0.5%
39 Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science (Arizona) 10 0.2%
40 Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine 15 0.3%
41 UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine/UCLA Medical Center 30 0.7%
42 University of Maryland 30 0.7%
43 University of South Florida Morsani 20 0.4%
44 Loyola University Medical Center 25 0.5%
45 University of Chicago 25 0.5%
46 Allegheny Health Network Medical Education Consortium (AGH) 25 0.5%
47 MedStar Health/Georgetown University Hospital 20 0.4%
48 University of Colorado 35 0.8%
49 Tufts Medical Center 20 0.4%
50 University of Missouri-Columbia 25 0.5%
51 Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine 30 0.7%
52 University of California (San Diego) Medical Center 25 0.5%
53 Ohio State University Hospital 30 0.7%
54 University of Tennessee College of Medicine at Chattanooga 15 0.3%
55 University of Alabama Medical Center 30 0.7%
56 University of New Mexico School of Medicine 25 0.5%
57 University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine 25 0.5%
58 University of Florida 20 0.4%
59 Texas A&M College of Medicine-Scott and White Medical Center (Temple) 20 0.4%
60 Boston University Medical Center 25 0.5%
61 University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio Joe and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine 35 0.8%
62 Baylor College of Medicine 30 0.7%
63 Prisma Health/University of South Carolina SOM Columbia (Columbia) 20 0.4%
64 Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell at Huntington Hospital 30 0.7%
65 Virginia Commonwealth University Health System 25 0.5%
66 Summa Health System/NEOMED 20 0.4%
67 Tulane University 15 0.3%
68 University of Connecticut 25 0.5%
69 University of Kansas School of Medicine 20 0.4%
70 Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell 20 0.4%
71 Indiana University School of Medicine 30 0.7%
72 Penn State Milton S Hershey Medical Center 25 0.5%
73 Rutgers Health/New Jersey Medical School 30 0.7%
74 University at Buffalo 25 0.5%
75 Yale-New Haven Medical Center 25 0.5%
76 Medical University of South Carolina 20 0.4%
77 Rutgers Health/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School 20 0.4%
78 Oregon Health & Science University 25 0.5%
79 Spectrum Health/Michigan State University 25 0.5%
80 University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center 30 0.7%
81 Beaumont Health (Royal Oak and Taylor) 40 0.9%
82 MedStar Health/Union Memorial Hospital 10 0.2%
83 University of North Carolina Hospitals 25 0.5%
84 University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine 30 0.7%
85 Mount Carmel Health System 10 0.2%
86 George Washington University 20 0.4%
87 Maimonides Medical Center 15 0.3%
88 Orlando Health 25 0.5%
89 Temple University Hospital 20 0.4%
90 University of Kansas (Wichita) 20 0.4%
91 Cedars-Sinai Medical Center 20 0.4%
92 Akron General Medical Center/NEOMED 15 0.3%
93 University of Louisville School of Medicine 25 0.5%
94 University of Cincinnati Medical Center/College of Medicine 25 0.5%
95 University of Mississippi Medical Center 20 0.4%
96 UMass Chan Medical School 25 0.5%
97 University of Kentucky College of Medicine 25 0.5%
98 Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell at Lenox Hill Hospital 10 0.2%
99 University of Vermont Medical Center 15 0.3%
100 West Virginia University 20 0.4%
101 Henry Ford Hospital 30 0.7%
102 NYU Long Island School of Medicine 15 0.3%
103 Louisiana State University 20 0.4%
104 Naval Medical Center (San Diego) 25 0.5%
105 National Capital Consortium 30 0.7%
106 Los Angeles County-Harbor-UCLA Medical Center 25 0.5%
107 McLaren Health Care/Flint/MSU 15 0.3%
108 University of Michigan Health-West 10 0.2%
109 University of Texas Medical Branch Hospitals 25 0.5%
110 Dartmouth-Hitchcock/Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital 20 0.4%
111 Naval Medical Center (Portsmouth) 20 0.4%
112 UPMC Medical Education/Hamot 15 0.3%
113 Geisinger Health System 20 0.4%
114 Univ of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences 15 0.3%
115 Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals 25 0.5%
116 Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV 20 0.4%
117 Tripler Army Medical Center 15 0.3%
118 SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University 30 0.7%
119 Albert Einstein Healthcare Network 15 0.3%
120 University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson 20 0.4%
121 Madigan Army Medical Center 15 0.3%
122 San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium (SAUSHEC) 30 0.7%
123 University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago 25 0.5%
124 Baylor University Medical Center 15 0.3%
125 St Joseph's University Medical Center 15 0.3%
126 Cleveland Clinic Foundation/South Pointe Hospital 15 0.3%
127 SUNY Upstate Medical University 25 0.5%
128 University of Florida College of Medicine Jacksonville 20 0.4%
129 William Beaumont Army Medical Center/Texas Tech University (El Paso) 25 0.5%
130 University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix 20 0.4%
131 University of California (Irvine) 20 0.4%
132 Methodist Hospital (Houston) 15 0.3%
133 Southern Illinois University 15 0.3%
134 University of California (San Francisco)/Fresno 20 0.4%
135 Detroit Medical Center/Wayne State University 20 0.4%
136 St Louis University School of Medicine 25 0.5%
137 OhioHealth/Doctors Hospital 25 0.5%
138 Wright State University 20 0.4%
139 John Peter Smith Hospital (Tarrant County Hospital District) 30 0.7%
140 St Luke's University Hospital 15 0.3%
141 University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School 20 0.4%
142 Rutgers Health/Jersey City Medical Center 15 0.3%
143 Howard University 20 0.4%
144 Louisiana State University (Shreveport) 15 0.3%
145 University of Toledo 20 0.4%
146 Marshall University School of Medicine 15 0.3%
147 Ochsner Clinic Foundation 15 0.3%
148 USA Health 15 0.3%
149 University of Puerto Rico* 20 0.2%
150 University of Hawaii 10 0.4%
151 Medical College of Georgia 20 0.3%
152 Broward Health 15 0.5%
153 Stony Brook Medicine/University Hospital 25 0.3%
154 Westchester Medical Center 15 0.4%
155 University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine 20 0.4%
156 WellStar Atlanta Medical Center 20 0.3%
157 Wellspan Health/York Hospital 15 0.4%
158 Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at Lubbock 20 0.5%
159 Albany Medical Center 25 0.3%
160 St Mary's Hospital and Medical Center 15 0.2%
161 HCA Healthcare/USF Morsani College of Medicine GME: Largo Medical Center 10 0.4%
162 Larkin Community Hospital 20 0.3%
163 Nassau University Medical Center 12 0.3%
164 Kettering Health Network 15 0.4%
165 Community Memorial Health System 20 0.4%
166 McLaren Health Care/Greater Lansing/MSU 20 0.5%
167 Loma Linda University Health Education Consortium 25 0.2%
168 Western Reserve Hospital 10 0.2%
169 OPTI West/Valley Hospital Medical Center 10 0.3%
170 Valley Consortium for Medical Education 15 0.4%
171 Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine 20 0.2%
172 Rutgers Health/Monmouth Medical Center 10 0.2%
173 Cooper Medical School of Rowan University/Cooper University Hospital 10 0.3%
174 Inspira Health Network/Inspira Medical Center Vineland 15 0.4%
175 Kansas City University GME Consortium (KCU-GME Consortium)/HCA Healthcare Kansas City 20 0.3%
176 University of Central Florida/HCA Healthcare GME (Ocala) 15 0.5%
177 RowanSOM/Jefferson Health/Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital 25 0.5%
178 UPMC Medical Education (Harrisburg) 25 0.2%
179 One Brooklyn Health System/Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center 10 0.3%
180 Ascension Genesys Hospital 15 0.2%
181 Ascension Macomb-Oakland Hospital 10 0.3%
182 Ascension Providence/MSUCHM 15 0.4%
183 Beaumont Health (Farmington Hills and Dearborn) 20 0.2%
184 Case Western Reserve University/University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center/Regional 10 0.2%
185 Dwight David Eisenhower Army Medical Center 10 0.2%
186 East Tennessee State University/Quillen College of Medicine 10 0.4%
187 Franciscan Health Olympia Fields 20 0.2%
188 Garden City Hospital 10 0.4%
189 Geisinger Health System (Wilkes Barre) 20 0.2%
190 Henry Ford Macomb Hospital 10 0.3%
191 Jack Hughston Memorial Hospital 15 0.3%
192 Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine 15 0.3%
193 McLaren Health Care/Macomb/MSU 15 0.3%
194 McLaren Health Care/Oakland/MSU 15 0.3%
195 Mercy St Vincent Medical Center 15 0.2%
196 Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences 10 0.3%
197 Riverside University Health System 15 0.3%
198 Robert Packer Hospital 15 0.3%
199 Samaritan Health Services 15 0.2%
200 Sinai Hospital of Baltimore 10 0.3%
201 St Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital 15 1.0%

Table 3 demonstrates U.S. News rankings used to rank each medical school.

Table 3. U.S. News’ Research Rankings for Medical Schools*.

*Remaining schools were unranked.

Ranking School
1 Harvard University
2 New York University (Grossman)
3 Duke University
4 Columbia University
4 Stanford University
4 University of California - San Francisco
7 Johns Hopkins University
7 University of Washington
9 University of Pennsylvania (Perelman)
10 Yale University
11 Mayo Clinic School of Medicine (Alix)
11 Washington University in St. Louis
13 University of Pittsburgh
13 Vanderbilt University
15 Northwestern University (Feinberg)
15 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
17 Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
17 University of Chicago (Pritzker)
19 Cornell University Weill
19 University of California - San Diego
21 University of California - Los Angeles
22 Baylor College of Medicine
22 Emory University
24 University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
25 Case Western Reserve University
26 University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
27 University of Colorado
27 University of Maryland
29 Oregon Health and Science University
29 University of Southern California (Keck)
31 University of Virginia
32 University of Alabama - Birmingham
33 Boston University
33 Ohio State University
33 University of Wisconsin - Madison
36 Brown University (Alpert)
36 University of Florida
36 University of Rochester
39 Albert Einstein College of Medicine
39 University of Iowa (Carver)
41 University of Utah
42 Indiana University - Indianapolis
42 University of Cincinnati
42 University of Minnesota
45 Dartmouth College (Geisel)
45 University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School
45 University of Miami (Miller)
48 University of California - Davis
48 University of California - Irvine
48 University of South Florida
48 Wake Forest University
52 University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio
53 University of Texas Health Science Center Houston (Mcgovern)
54 University of Nebraska Medical Center
55 Georgetown University
55 Stony Brook University - SUNY
55 Thomas Jefferson University (Kimmel)
55 Tufts University
55 University of Illinois
60 George Washington University
61 Temple University (Katz)
61 University of Connecticut
61 Virginia Commonwealth University
64 Rush University
64 University of Hawaii Manoa (burns)
66 Hofstra University/Northwell Health (Zucker)
66 Rutgers New Jersey Medical School - Newark
66 University of Vermont (Larner)
66 Wayne State University
70 Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School New Brunswick
70 Saint Louis University
70 University of Arizona - Tucson
70 University of Kentucky
74 University of Oklahoma
75 Augusta University
75 Texas A&M University
75 University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
75 University of Kansas Medical Center
75 University of Louisville
75 University of Missouri
81 University at Buffalo SUNY (Jacobs)
81 University of New Mexico
83 University of Missouri - Kansas City
83 Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
83 West Virginia University
86 Drexel University
86 University of Central Florida
88 Eastern Virginia Medical School
88 SUNY Upstate Medical University
90 New York Medical College
90 Tripler Army Medical Center
90 University of South Carolina
93-123 Copper Medical School of Rowan University
93-123 East Carolina University (Brody)
93-123 East Tennessee State University (Quilen)
93-123 Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine
93-123 Florida Atlantic University (Schmidt)
93-123 Florida International University (Wertheim)
93-123 Florida State University
93-123 Howard University
93-123 Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine
93-123 Lincoln Memorial University (Debusk)
93-123 Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center - Shreveport
93-123 Marshall University (Edwards)
93-123 Midwestern University (Arizona)
93-123 Midwestern University (Illinois)
93-123 Nova Southeastern University Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine (Patel)
93-123 Ohio University
93-123 Oklahoma State University
93-123 Quinnipiac University
93-123 Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine
93-123 Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
93-123 Touro University California
93-123 University of California Riverside
93-123 University of New England
93-123 University of North Texas Health Sciences
93-123 University of Pikeville
93-123 University of Tennessee Health Science Center
93-123 University of Toledo
93-123 Western University of Health Sciences
93-123 West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
93-123 William Carney University College of Osteopathic Medicine
93-123 Wright State University (Boonshoft)

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The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Human Ethics

Consent was obtained or waived by all participants in this study

Animal Ethics

Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue.

References


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