Portland, Ore.

According to U.S. News & World Report¹s "Best Graduate Schools 2002," the Oregon Health Sciences University School of Medicine ranks No. 2 among American medical schools for its primary care education program ‹ up from third last year. This is the sixth consecutive year that the medical school has ranked in the top 2 percent nationally.

The magazine ranks medical schools overall for both primary care education and research activity. The OHSU School of Medicine's research grants have tripled in the past five years, placing it in the top third of America¹s medical schools. According to this edition of U.S. News & World Report, the School of Medicine tied for 35th, up four places from 39th in last year's report.

The magazine also ranks medical school specialties by reputation. As a provider of family medicine education, the School of Medicine ties for fourth place, making this the sixth consecutive year it has garnered this spot. In the specialty of rural medicine, the school ties for eighth place, up from 11th last year.

U.S. News & World Report ranks nursing school education programs once every three years ‹ the most current rankings are from its report last year. The Oregon Health Sciences University School of Nursing master's program ranks in the top 2 percent of approximately 350 such programs in the United States. The school's program has earned the top ranking each year since the news magazine first began its surveys 12 years ago. The program ties with the University of Illinois­Chicago for seventh place. In addition, all seven of its master's specialty areas score in the top 10.

In the categories of nurse practitioner gerontological/geriatrics and nurse practitioner pediatrics, the school ranks fifth place. In the categories of nurse practitioner family and adult nursing, the school ranks fifth and sixth respectively. In the category of clinical nurse specialist adult/medical surgical, the school ranks sixth. For clinical nurse specialist psychiatric/mental health and clinical nurse specialist community public health, the school ties for the 10th ranking.

U.S. News & World Report does not rank nursing schools for research activity. The March 16, 2001, National Institutes of Health report, however, ranks the OHSU School of Nursing ninth nationally for NIH research funding. The school's research ranking has moved up during the last five years from 21st to ninth.

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