The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (UWSMPH) is a professional school for the study of medicine and public health at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It is one of only two medical schools in Wisconsin, along with the Medical College of WisconsininMilwaukee, and the only public one.
UWSMPH's main building, the Health Sciences Learning Center, is located at the western end of UW–Madison's campus, adjacent to the UW Health University Hospital, its primary affiliated teaching hospital, as well as the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research. UWSMPH is active in teaching and research, and extramural research grants received by UWSMPH totaled US$367.8 million in 2017–18, accounting for 40 per cent of all research grants received by UW–Madison.[1]
The medical school was proposed in 1848 and a two-year basic science course began in 1907. Charles R. Bardeen was the first dean of the medical school. The first four-year class matriculated in 1925, and the entire UWSMPH moved into the state-of-the-art Health Sciences Learning Center in 2004.
Wisconsin General Hospital in the 1930s. Built in 1924, this building served as the University Hospital until 1979, and housed the medical school until 2004. It is today known as the Medical Sciences Center and continues to house the school's occupational therapy program and anatomy laboratory, along with several other university departments[2]
In 2024, UWSMPH was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as #35 for Best Medical Schools: Research and #26 for Best Medical Schools: Primary Care.[3] In the 2020 edition of graduate school rankings, UWSMPH was listed as 16th in primary-care education and as 27th among research schools.[4] The UW School of Medicine and Public Health also ranks as one of the top medical schools in terms of research funding and expenditures, with US$356 million in extramural research support and US$575 million in total expenditures in 2015–16.[5] In 2019, UWSMPH ranked 28th among U.S. medical schools in NIH research grant funding received, with US$229 million received.[6] Grants to UWSMPH represent 40 per cent of all research grants received by UW–Madison.[7]
The UWSMPH is an academic center for embryonic stem cell research, with UWSMPH Professor of Anatomy James Thomson being the first scientist to isolate human embryonic stem cells.[8][9] This has brought significant attention to the university's research programs. Stem cell research at the school is aided in part by funding from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and the promotion of WiCell.[citation needed]
UWSMPH has a Medical Scientist Training Program, or MD/PhD program that is funded by the NIH. Additionally, the Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine (WARM) program exists for students intending to practice in rural areas, while the Training in Urban Medicine and Public Health (TRIUMPH) program exists for students interested in practicing in urban areas.[13][14] Students who enroll in the WARM track spend the majority of their clinical years training through hospitals and clinics affiliated with the La Crosse-based Gundersen Health System, Marshfield-based Marshfield Clinic, or Green Bay-based Aurora BayCare. Students enrolled in TRIUMPH complete the majority of their clinical training in Milwaukee with Aurora Health Care.[15][16]
Through the Statewide Campus initiative, medical students at UWSMPH who are not enrolled in WARM or TRIUMPH also complete some of their rotations at one of the aforementioned Statewide sites outside of Madison (Gundersen Health System, Marshfield Clinic, Aurora Bay Care, or Aurora Health Care–Milwaukee).[17] The Statewide Campus initiative is based on the Wisconsin Idea, the principle that the university's influence should benefit the people of the State of Wisconsin, famously summarized in former UW–Madison President Charles R. Van Hise's statement: "I shall never be content until the beneficent influence of the University reaches every family of the state.”[18][19]
Robert N. Golden served as Dean of the School of Medicine and Public Health from 2006 until February 2024.[20][21] As of June 2024, a new Dean had not been announced.[22]
Frederic E. Mohs (MD 1934), general surgeon who developed the Mohs surgery technique in dermatology while a medical student; later became a professor and surgeon at UW–Madison [26]
^"UW Health: Then and Now". www.uwhealth.org. University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority. Archived from the original on 2015-09-05. Retrieved 2023-04-09.
