UMSOM Academic Departments Rank Among Top Medical Schools in New Blue Ridge Rankings

The 2022 Blue Ridge Rankings were released this week, and 11 academic departments in the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) are now ranked in the Top 20. This ranking is based on total research awards received from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Four of UMSOM’s departments–Microbiology & Immunology, Anesthesiology, Orthopaedics, and Epidemiology & Public Health–are ranked in the Top 10.

The rankings are published each year by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research.

“We are pleased to see many of our departments recognized as among the best in the nation in biomedical research,” said Christopher P. O’Donnell, PhD, Vice Dean for Research Development and Operations at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “While these results for 2022 are strong, we must continue to focus significant attention on increasing our grant submissions and growing our total NIH grants and contracts, as we look to rejuvenate our level of activity following the pandemic.”

Highlights of the 2022 rankings include:

• The Department of Microbiology & Immunology continued as UMSOM’s highest ranked department at #3, moving up 2 places from last year, and jumping 31 places since 2018. It ranked #2 among public medical schools.
• The Department of Orthopaedics continued its upward trend each year moving from #17 in 2021 to #9 in 2022. It ranked #3 among public medical schools.
• The Department of Anesthesiology continued its strong showing at #6 among all medical schools, the third time the Department has been in the top 10 in the past five years.

“It is encouraging to see that NIH’s budget has grown nearly 6 percent for 2023 to $47.5 billion,” said UMSOM Dean Mark T. Gladwin, MD, Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland, Baltimore, and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor. “This presents a tremendous opportunity for us to strengthen our position in many departments by increasing our grant submissions and leveraging our research assets in both foundational and clinical disciplines.”

About the University of Maryland School of Medicine

Now in its third century, the University of Maryland School of Medicine was chartered in 1807 as the first public medical school in the United States. It continues today as one of the fastest growing, top-tier biomedical research enterprises in the world — with 46 academic departments, centers, institutes, and programs, and a faculty of more than 3,000 physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals, including members of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and a distinguished two-time winner of the Albert E. Lasker Award in Medical Research. With an operating budget of more than $1.3 billion, the School of Medicine works closely in partnership with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Medical System to provide research-intensive, academic and clinically based care for nearly 2 million patients each year. The School of Medicine has nearly $600 million in extramural funding, with most of its academic departments highly ranked among all medical schools in the nation in research funding. As one of the seven professional schools that make up the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine has a total population of nearly 9,000 faculty and staff, including 2,500 students, trainees, residents, and fellows. The combined School of Medicine and Medical System (“University of Maryland Medicine”) has an annual budget of over $6 billion and an economic impact of nearly $20 billion on the state and local community. The School of Medicine, which ranks as the 8th highest among public medical schools in research productivity (according to the Association of American Medical Colleges profile) is an innovator in translational medicine, with 606 active patents and 52 start-up companies. In the latest U.S. News & World Report ranking of the Best Medical Schools, published in 2021, the UM School of Medicine is ranked #9 among the 92 public medical schools in the U.S., and in the top 15 percent (#27) of all 192 public and private U.S. medical schools. The School of Medicine works locally, nationally, and globally, with research and treatment facilities in 36 countries around the world. Visit www.medschool.umaryland.edu