In the attached letter, the Dean of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine thanks faculty and staff for helping maintain the School of Medicine’s position as #2 in U.S. News & World Report’s 2009 edition of its publication ranking the nation’s accredited medical schools. The accompanying letter provides detailed information about the ranking, as well as information about the top-10 placement of Johns Hopkins’ medical specialties. The biological sciences programs were not freshly ranked, but repeat 2007 information.

To interview leaders of the School of Medicine, call Joann Rodgers at 410-955-8659 or John Lazarou at 410-502-8902.

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Dear Colleagues:

It is my great pleasure to share some good news with you. Once again, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has retained its top-tier ranking in the 2009 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s report of the best graduate schools in the nation.

The School ranked, as it has for many years, #2 among U.S. medical schools, a testament to the extraordinary contributions and commitment of our faculty and staff.

The rankings are determined by a combination of reputational surveys and objective data such as the amount of research grants, student selectivity and faculty/student ratios.

In addition to the overall ranking, USN&WR recognizes a number of specialty school departments, a list based on results of a survey among peer institution deans and senior faculty across the country. This time out, we maintained our #1 spot in geriatrics, took the #2 spots in AIDS and internal medicine, kept our #3 ranking in drug/alcohol abuse, stayed at #4 in pediatrics and at #5 for women’s health.

Among engineering specialty programs, our biomedical engineering program once again led the field.

The biological sciences were not freshly ranked this year, but in the most recent listing in 2007, we placed #6 overall. In the 2007 science specialties list, we were #3 in neuroscience/neurobiology, #5 in immunology/infectious disease, #7 in cell biology and #8 in genetics/genomics/bioinformatics, microbiology and molecular biology.

As we say each year, we are in good company. For the 2009 report, the magazine’s top medical schools overall are Harvard University, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Pennsylvania, University of California-San Francisco, Duke University, University of Washington, Stanford University, University of California-Los Angeles, and Yale University.

Our School of Medicine is a special place. Its challenging but collegial environment encourages talented people to pursue outstanding scientific discoveries and to train superbly the next generation of clinicians, scientists and leaders in medicine. You always come through.

I am extremely gratified when others recognize your dedication and your achievements, particularly in this time of lagging government funding, and rapid changes in biomedical research, medical education and clinical care. I thank each and every one of you for your extraordinary efforts.

Edward D. Miller, M.D.

Dean of the Medical Faculty

CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine