US News & World Report Ranking

Dear Colleagues,

Yesterday U.S. News & World Report released its annual rankings of the Best Graduate Schools. The Stanford University School of Medicine was again ranked No. 2 among the Best Medical Schools for Research.

While I am pleased with this recognition, we all know that external rankings offer just one perspective on our success, and we at Stanford Medicine share with many others a concern about the overall methodology and its limitations. Yesterday’s news, then, offers us an opportunity to consider what yardstick we should use instead to measure our progress.

As an academic institution, we value the estimation of our peers—they are the ones with the knowledge necessary to know if we are breaking new ground and the ones who will judge our progress in achieving preeminence. We want to be preeminent, but not for its own sake. We want to be preeminent because that’s what it takes to lead the biomedical revolution.

I believe the yardstick by which we will measure our progress is impact. If we are leading the biomedical revolution, our fundamental discoveries will be changing scientific paradigms; our translational research will be developing new therapeutics for old diseases; our physicians will be delivering the most coordinated, compassionate, and leading-edge care; and our educational programs will be training the physicians and scientists who are poised to transform their fields. In the end, we must judge our progress by the degree to which we are delivering on the promise of the biomedical revolution for a healthier world.

As we seek to lead, we do so as Stanford Medicine. The hospitals are where we provide premier patient-centered care. They are also the places where we carry out clinical research and where our students and trainees receive their clinical training. I am most grateful to Amir Rubin, Christopher Dawes, and all the leadership and staff of Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford for their central role in the shared mission of Stanford Medicine. Whatever success we achieve will not be ours alone. We also owe great debt of gratitude to our many enthusiastic volunteers and supporters who believe in our mission and the power of our vision.

In closing, I wish to acknowledge you—our faculty, students, and staff—for the outstanding work you do every day. Stanford Medicine is such a special place because of you, and I deeply appreciate the depth of your commitment to having an impact and making a difference.

The biomedical revolution is here, offering so much hope and possibility. We are poised to lead, and I can’t wait to see what we might accomplish together.

Sincerely,

Lloyd Minor

Carl and Elizabeth Naumann Dean of the School of Medicine
Professor of Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery
Professor of Bioengineering and of Neurobiology, by courtesy