LOS ANGELES-The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) improved its ranking by two places in the 2013 U.S. News & World Report's Best Graduate Schools guidebook.

The Keck School ranks 34th among research-intensive medical schools, moving up two spots from the 2012 rankings.

The USC Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy ranked number one in the annual listing, a ranking it has held since 2004. The USC Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy also ranked number one. The USC School of Pharmacy ranked 10th in a four-way tie with the University of Arizona, University of Utah, and University of Washington, moving up from a rank of 15.

The 2013 rankings will appear in the April 3 issue of U.S. News & World Report and are available online.

"Moving up two spots in this ranking indicates that the Keck School is among America's strongest medical schools," said Keck School Dean Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A. "We're consistently attracting the best and brightest faculty and students who conduct innovative and groundbreaking research with the potential to make dramatic and beneficial changes to health care."

The data for the rankings come from surveys of more than 1,200 programs and nearly 15,000 academics and professionals, conducted during the fall of 2011 and early 2012. Every year, U.S. News & World Report ranks professional school programs in medicine, business, education, engineering and law. The rankings are based on two types of data: Expert opinions about program excellence and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school's faculty, research and students.

U.S. News & World Report also periodically ranks programs in the health arena, sciences, social sciences, humanities and many other areas based solely on the ratings of academic experts. The health rankings for physical therapy, occupational therapy and pharmacy are all based on experts' ratings.

Some of the Keck School of Medicine's recent milestones include:

  • A $150 million naming gift in 2011 from the W. M. Keck Foundation, following the foundation's $110 naming gift in 1999
  • A $50 million gift from USC trustee and alumnus Ming Hsieh for cancer research
  • A $15 million gift from the Kenneth T. and Eileen K. Norris Foundation for expansion of cancer care facilities at USC Health Sciences Campus
  • A 43 percent increase in grant funding over four years
  • Hiring of transformational faculty, including:

o Stephen B. Gruber, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., director of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
o Andrew McMahon, Ph.D., director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC
o Berislav V. Zlokovic, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics


Source: University of Southern California (USC)