University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Type	Private
Established	1952
Dean	Pascal Goldschmidt, MD
Academic staff	1,397
Students	753 medical, 420 graduate
Location	Miami, Florida, USA
Campus	Urban
Website	http://www.med.miami.edu/

The University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine (UMMSM) is the graduate medical school of the University of Miami. Founded in 1952, it is the oldest medical school in the state of Florida.

Campus

The main medical campus is located in the Civic Center, Miami, Florida within the 153-acre (0.62 km²) UM/Jackson Memorial Medical Center complex. The medical center includes three University-owned hospitals that make up the UHealth System: University of Miami Hospital, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Anne Bates Leach Eye Hospital, home to the top-ranked Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Affiliated hospitals on the medical campus include Jackson Memorial Hospital, Holtz Children's Hospital, and the Miami VA Healthcare System. Jackson Memorial Hospital serves as the school's major teaching facility and is one of the largest hospitals in the United States with more than 1,550 beds.^[1]

Regional Campus

From 2004 - 2011 the Miller School offered instruction on the campus of Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in Boca Raton, Florida approximately 60 miles (97 km) north of the parent campus in Miami. FAU is a public university, and the State of Florida supported the Boca Raton program with an annual contribution of $15 million.^[2][3] MD students were admitted to either the Miami or Boca Raton programs and spent all four years studying on the selected campus.^[2] In April 2005, the Boca Raton program was expanded into a full four-year medical degree program.^[3] All graduates of the Boca Raton program received University of Miami degrees rather than FAU degrees. As of 2011, FAU has created its own medical school, independent of the University of Miami.^[4]

Starting with the Class of 2014, the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine no longer offers incoming students the option of attending the Boca Raton campus. Training sites and Miller School faculty associated with the regional campus are being integrated into the MD/MPH program (see below). The University continues to sponsor multiple residency programs in Broward County and Palm Beach County under the umbrella of the Palm Beach Regional Campus (UMPBRC).

Academic programs

• Bascom Palmer Eye Institute is the top facility in the country for ophthalmic clinical care and research. The Anne Bates Leach Eye Hospital annually serves 160,000 outpatients of ophthalmology and other specialties, largely for microsurgery procedures.
• For its pioneering work in islet cell transplantation, the Diabetes Research Institute joined the National Institutes of Health and the Naval Medical Research Center as the only academic partner in the national initiative to cure diabetes through transplantation.
• The Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center treats 3,000 newly diagnosed cancer patients each year, and treats thousands more in ongoing treatment from throughout the United States and Latin America. Approximately 200 clinical trials are under way, supported by more than $31 million in research grants.
• Dedicated to finding a cure for paralysis resulting from spinal cord injury, researchers at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis found the first direct evidence of successful regeneration of adult human central nervous system tissue. The Miami Project conducts basic and clinical research trials, as well as a program that permits spinal cord injured men to father children.
• The University of Miami Ear Institute houses the nation’s second most active cochlear implant program, restoring hearing to adults and children with profound deafness. The Barton G. Kids Hear Now Foundation Cochlear Implant Family Resource Center, dedicated to assisting hearing-challenged children and their families' transitions from a silent world into the hearing world through the use of cochlear implant technology, opened at the Ear Institute in September 2010.
• The School of Medicine’s Mailman Center for Child Development has a number of model programs that help children with developmental disabilities.
• The UM/Jackson Transplant Program is one of the nation’s busiest, responsible for half of the pediatric multivisceral transplants in the world. UM/Jackson has an active transplant program for bone marrow, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, pancreas and intestines.
• Significant federal funds support research at the Comprehensive AIDS Program, including HIV studies in pregnant women, pediatric AIDS clinical trials, various drug protocol studies, heterosexual transmission of AIDS, transfusion safety studies, and the national cooperative drug discovery group.
• The Center on Aging, dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for older people, conducts significant research on geriatric issues.
• The Center for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI) was founded in 2011. The CTI brings together expertise in small molecule discovery, pharmacology and disease biology to enable academic drug discovery efforts. Several prominent projects include discovery of epigenetic modulators for cancer, inflammatory disease and neuroscience as well as programs centered on a variety of targets in mucopolysaccharidosis, addiction, schizophrenia, fragile X, obesity, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, among many others.
• The Hussman Institute for Human Genomics seeks to apply genetic understanding to the practice of medicine. In 2007, Margaret Vance, MD and colleagues reported a new gene responsible for multiple sclerosis.
• The Department of Physical Therapy offers an entry level clinical doctoral degree (DPT) and an academic doctoral degree (PhD).^[5]
• The Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute seeks to understand the biology of stem cells and translate basic research into new regenerative therapies. In 2007, Joshua Hare, MD and colleagues reported that a new stem cell therapy was safe for the treatment of myocardial infarction and reduced complications from the condition.^[6]

Teaching and Training Affiliates

The majority of residency and fellowship training sponsored by the Miller School of Medicine is offered in conjunction with Miami-Dade County's Jackson Memorial Hospital System.^[7] Additional residency programs are available through the Palm Beach Regional Campus^[8][9]

• Jackson Memorial Hospital
• University of Miami Hospital
• University of Miami Hospitals and Clinics/Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
• Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Miami, FL and West Palm Beach, FL)
• JFK Medical Center (Atlantis, Florida)
• Holy Cross Hospital (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)

Joint Programs

The School of Medicine offers joint-degree programs in coordination with other disciplines in the University:

• M.D./Ph.D in conjunction with the Program in Biomedical Sciences and Program in Public Health Sciences^[10]
• M.D./J.D. in conjunction with the University of Miami School of Law^[11]
• M.D./M.B.A in conjunction with the University of Miami School of Business^[12]
• M.D./M.S. in Genomic Science^[13]
• M.D./M.P.H in conjunction with the Department of Public Health Sciences^[14]

M.D./M.P.H. program

Beginning in 2011, the school and the UM Department of Public Health Sciences initiated a four-year joint M.D./M.P.H. program designed to train public health physicians.^[14] This is one of the few programs in the United States that enable students to complete both degrees concurrently.^[15] Students in the MD/MPH program spend their first two years studying at the main campus in Miami before moving to the Palm Beach Regional Campus to complete their third and fourth years. In addition to traditional hospital and office based clerkships, students rotate through clinics located at the Palm Beach County Department of Health.^[16]

Rankings

Sebastian the Ibis in scrubs.

The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine is currently ranked 42nd overall for NIH funding, the highest in Florida.^[17] As of 2015 the school is ranked 45th in research by U.S. News & World Report.^[18] In 2012, U.S. News & World Report ranked the University of Miami Physical Therapy Department 9th in the nation.^[19]

In 2015, U.S. News & World Report listed Bascom Palmer Eye Institute as the number one hospital in the country for ophthalmology for the twelfth year in a row.^[20] In addition, Holtz Children's Hospital was nationally ranked in 5 pediatric specialties.^[21]

Research

The Miller Medical School has more than 1,500 ongoing projects funded by more than $200 million in external grants and contracts to UM faculty.^[22] The medical campus includes more than 500,000 sq ft (46,000 m²) of research space. The recently completed Building I of the University of Miami Life Science and Technology Park added an additional 252,000 sq ft (23,400 m²) of dedicated research space and is the first phase of a five building, 1,800,000 sq ft (170,000 m²) lab ready research park. It is located in the Miami Hospital District and adjacent to the medical campus.^[23]

The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis is a research center dedicated to research in the field of paralysis and spinal cord injury, with the eventual object of finding a cure for paralyzing injuries. Based at the Miller School of Medicine, it is considered a world leader in neurological injury research. The center was founded in 1985 by a research physician and three people who had dealt with spinal cord injuries. The center has identified a family of genes that may control the ability of the optic nerve to regenerate.^[24] The Miller Medical School also developed the famous “Harvey” teaching mannequin that is able to recreate many of the physical findings of the cardiology examination, including palpation, auscultation, and electrocardiography.^[25][26][27] The Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute (ISCI) and Dr. Joshua Hare are leading cutting edge medicine including injections of a person's own bone marrow stem cells to repair damage from massive heart attacks.

Admissions

For the traditional MD-only medical class entering in 2015, 577 out of a total 8291 applicants were interviewed for a class of 147 students. The entering class presented an average overall GPA of 3.78, science GPA of 3.76, and composite MCAT score of 33.9.^[28]

For the combined MD/MPH medical class entering in 2014, 171 out of a total 7667 applicants were interviewed for a class of 48 students. The entering class presented an average overall GPA of 3.65, a science GPA of 3.55, and a composite MCAT score of 32. ^[29]

Donation

In December 2004, the University of Miami School of Medicine received a $100 million donation from the family of Leonard M. Miller, former President and CEO of Lennar Corporation. It was the single largest donation in University of Miami history and the second largest gift ever given to a university in Florida. The school was renamed in Mr. Miller's honor.^[30]

In February 2014, Oscar de la Renta recreated his entire Spring presentation, Designed for A Cure 2014 collection to raise money for the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.^[31]

In October 2014, The Lennar Foundation announced a $50 million naming donation for a new UHealth ambulatory services center located in Coral Gables, FL.^[32] To be located adjacent to the main University of Miami campus, the new Lennar Foundation Medical Center at UHealth Coral Gables will expand outpatient access to UHealth physicians in South Miami. Future plans include relocating the UMiami Student Health Center to the new facility as well.^[33]

In May 2015 Stuart Miller, chairman of Lennar Corporation and chairman of the University of Miami Board of Trustees, unveiled a $50 million donation for construction of a new medical education building to be located on the main medical center campus.^[34]

Notable alumni

• Daniel T. Barry, MD, PhD - astronaut
• Rodney Belcher, MD - orthopaedic surgeon, former Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at Georgetown University School of Medicine
• Mitchel S. Berger, MD - Chairman of Neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco
• David Hafler, MD, MSc - Chairman of Neurology at the Yale School of Medicine
• Julie R. Korenberg, MD, PhD - geneticist
• David Perlmutter, MD - American physician, best-selling author, and scholar
• Michael Welner, MD - forensic psychiatrist

In popular culture

Plastic surgeons Sean McNamara and Christian Troy from the television series Nip/Tuck are graduates of the University of Miami School of Medicine.

See also

• List of University of Miami alumni
• UM Department of Community Service

References

External links

• University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
• University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Internal Medicine residency website
• Jackson Memorial Hospital