Stanford University School of Medicine

Stanford University School of Medicine (SOM) is the oldest medical school in the western United States, with roots going back to 1858. Originally founded in San Francisco, the SOM moved in 1959 to the main Stanford campus and today is part of the Stanford University Medical Center, which includes Stanford Hospital & Clinics, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. While producing physicians who will shape the future of health care, the school’s mission is to improve medicine through cutting-edge research, excellence in patient care, and innovations in medical education. The SOM has an accomplished faculty that includes four Nobel Prize winners, two of whom received the award in 2006. Of 750 faculty members, 30 have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, 41 are members of the Institute of Medicine, and 13 serve as investigators for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The school is consistently ranked among the top 10 medical schools in the country. Each year, the school admits 86 students to its MD degree program, with the expectation that every student will fill leadership roles in the biosciences. Stanford University SOM values diversity, with minorities accounting for between 15% and 20% of every incoming class and women making up more than half of the student body. The move in 1959 to the heart of Silicon Valley launched the medical school on the path to being one the world’s leading medical research institutions. Among its peers, it ranks among the top in the country in funding per faculty investigator from the National Institutes of Health. An important aspect of the school’s research focus is to translate fundamental discoveries into technologies and treatments that can directly benefit patients. The school is distinguished by its multitude of interdisciplinary programs. Basic scientists, clinicians, and colleagues from other Stanford schools routinely collaborate on projects. For instance, the Bio-X initiative involves more than 300 faculty members from multiple disciplines who work together on initiatives in such burgeoning fields as molecular imaging, bioinformatics, and genetics. The Stanford SOM also operates jointly with the Stanford School of Engineering and the new Department of Bioengineering, which is already one of the top bioengineering programs in the country. For more information please visit (www.med.stanford.edu).