Stanford University School of Medicine
| Mission | Improve health through leadership, discoveries, and innovation. |
|---|---|
| Established | 1908 |
| University | Stanford University |
| School Type | Private |
| Dean | Philip A. Pizzo |
| Faculty | 801 |
| Students | 472 |
| Location | Stanford, CA, USA |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Website | http://med.stanford.edu |
Stanford University School of Medicine is a leading medical school located at Stanford University Medical Center in Stanford, California. Originally based in San Francisco, California as Cooper Medical College, it is the oldest continuously running medical school in the western United States. The medical school moved to the Stanford Campus in 1959.
Clinical rotations occur at several hospital sites. In addition to the Stanford University Medical Center (Stanford Hospital and Clinics) and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford has formal affiliations with Kaiser Permanente, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and the Palo Alto VA. Stanford medical students also manage two free clinics: Arbor Free Clinic in Menlo Park and Pacific Free Clinic in San Jose. Stanford is a cutting-edge center for translational and biomedical research (both basic science and clinical) and emphasizes medical innovation, novel methods, discoveries, and interventions in its integrated curriculum.
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The School of Medicine's mission is to be a premier research-intensive medical school that improves health through leadership, collaborative discoveries, and innovations in patient care, education, and research.
In the 2012 U.S. News & World Report rankings, Stanford was ranked 5th in the nation.[1] Admissions to Stanford is highly competitive. The acceptance rate is the second lowest in the country at 2.6% (only the Mayo Medical School is lower, with an acceptance rate of 2.5%).[2] In 2008, 6,567 people applied and 463 were interviewed for 86 spots. Matriculates had an average GPA of 3.76 and median MCAT score of 35. Additionally, Stanford University Medical Center (the medical school's major teaching affiliate) is ranked 17th out of 4,825 hospitals evaluated, making it the second highest ranked hospital in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to U.S. News' Best Hospitals 2011-2012.
Along with the School of Humanities and Science, the Stanford School of Medicine also runs the Biosciences Ph.D. Program which was ranked 1st in 2009 among graduate programs in the Biological Sciences by the US News and World Report[3]; for the incoming class in 2009, the program had an 11% acceptance rate.[4] In specialties, according to U.S. News for 2011, Stanford is #1 in genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics; #2 in biochemistry, biophysics, and structural biology, immunology, cell biology, molecular biology and neuroscience, #3 in infectious disease, and microbiology.
In 1855, Illinois physician Elias Samuel Cooper moved to San Francisco in the wake of the California Gold Rush. Cooper opened the first medical school on the West Coast in 1858, on Mission Street near 3rd Street in San Francisco. The school underwent many changes until Cooper's nephew, Levi Cooper Lane, established a new campus at the intersection of Webster and Sacramento Streets in 1882; at that time, the school was christened Cooper Medical College.[5]
In 1908, Stanford University adopted the Cooper Medical College as its affiliated medical institution. The school expanded and built up a reputation for excellence and providing cutting edge clinical care. In the 1950s, the Stanford Board of Trustees decided to move the school to the Stanford main campus in Palo Alto. Since then the faculty and students at the School of Medicine have made numerous contributions to both clinical and basic science innovations, cementing Stanford's international reputation as a leader in medicine.
In the 1980s the Medical Center launched a major expansion program. A new hospital was added in 1989 with 20 new operating rooms, state of the art intensive care and inpatient units, and other technological additions. The Lucile Packard Children's Hospital was completed in 1991, adding even more diversity to the Center.
The recently completed Clark Center (Bio-X Program) houses interdisciplinary research endeavors and serves to reinforce Stanford's commitment to providing the best possible patient care through innovation. The focus of the program is to combine bioengineering, chemical engineering, physics, and entrepreneurship with medical research and clinical education to pioneer the future of medicine through translating discoveries.
As of 2009, Stanford School of Medicine is undergoing rapid construction to further expand teaching and clinical opportunities. Slated to open in Spring 2010 is the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge, which will serve as the gateway to the School of Medicine as well as a new model of medical education by combining biomedical research with clinical education and information technology. Also opening in Spring of 2010 is the Lorry Lokey Stem Cell Research Building, which will be the largest stem cell and regenerative medicine facility in North America. The Stem Cell Research Building is expected to collaborated with the newly opened Stanford Cancer Center to form the Ludwig Center for Cancer Stem Cell Research and Medicine, which will allow researchers to take an interdisciplinary approach to the study of human cancer stem cells. Furthermore, the Stanford University Medical Center will undergo a renewal and expansion project to be started in late 2010. This project will rebuild Stanford Hospital & Clinics and the Emergency Department, modernize and expand Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, replace the School of Medicine facilities to accommodate modern technology, and renovate Hoover Pavilion, the original Palo Alto Hospital, to accommodate community physicians whose practices will need to be relocate.
Looking forward, Stanford looks to create an entirely new model of medical education, one that will enhance the university’s ability to act as a transformational agent in health care and biomedical research. This unique approach embraces cross-disciplinary teaching modalities, breakthrough technologies, and innovative ways to advance training in both clinical skills and scientific investigation throughout the medical school curriculum. In addition, Stanford aims to deepen public understanding of academic medicine by demonstrating how discoveries made in laboratories and clinics lead to profound improvements in human health.
The new curriculum was implemented in fall, 2003. As a consequence of the new curriculum, classroom lectures are reduced from 30 hrs/week to 12-22 hrs/week, and there are no classes on Wednesdays. For the first two years, the grading scheme is completely pass/fail, and there is no AOA or other forms of an honor system as to encourage cooperation among students. In the clinical years, evaluation will be through a criterion-based system and just like the first two years using a pass/fail evaluation scheme. Each student can choose from 1 of 12 scholarly concentrations/majors, and students at Stanford learn to think and act as scientists, a unique angle in medical education.