VP&S in Top Five of New Rankings

In two national rankings announced this year, VP&S reached the top five, its best showing in both rankings—No. 4 in the U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of research-oriented medical schools and No. 5 in National Institutes of Health funding.

NIH funding was finalized in January 2021 for the federal fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2020. VP&S received $496 million in NIH funding, enabling its jump from No. 9 in FFY19. Since FFY09, VP&S has moved from No. 14 to No. 5, the largest increase among the top 10 medical schools. The $496 million in NIH funding for FFY20 is an 18% increase from FFY19 and a 119% increase since FFY09, when NIH grants to VP&S totaled $227 million. Of the $496 million, $6 million was granted for COVID-19 research. Much of the COVID-19 research conducted at VP&S during 2020 was subcontracted through grants to other universities and is not reflected in the total VP&S received.

Among New York City medical schools, VP&S is the only school ranked in the top 10 in NIH funding for FFY20.

The U.S. News & World Report ranking of graduate schools was announced in late March. Among research-oriented medical schools, VP&S ranked No. 4 in a tie with Stanford and the University of California, San Francisco.

“These rankings are testimony to the work of our entire medical school community, and we are especially indebted to Dean Emeritus Lee Goldman, who frequently reminded us that VP&S was indisputably in the top five medical schools,” says Anil K. Rustgi, MD, interim executive vice president and dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine at Columbia. “The rankings confirm the leadership of our education, research, and patient care and put us undoubtedly among the eminent medical centers of our nation.”