School of Medicine and Public Health (University of Wisconsin–Madison)


The School of Medicine and Public Health is a professional school for the study of medicine and public health at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It is one of only two medical schools in Wisconsin, along with the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, and the only public one.
The school's main building, the Health Sciences Learning Center, is located at the western end of UW–Madison's campus, adjacent to the UW Health University Hospital, its primary affiliated teaching hospital, as well as the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research. UWSMPH is active in teaching and research, and extramural research grants received by UWSMPH totaled US$367.8 million in 2017–18, accounting for 40 per cent of all research grants received by UW–Madison.
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History

The medical school was proposed in 1848 and a two-year basic science course began in 1907. Charles R. Bardeen was the first dean of the medical school. The first four-year class matriculated in 1925, and the entire UWSMPH moved into the state-of-the-art Health Sciences Learning Center in 2004.

Rankings and Academic Profile

In 2024, the school was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as #35 for Best Medical Schools: Research and #26 for Best Medical Schools: Primary Care. In the 2020 edition of graduate school rankings, the school was listed as 16th in primary-care education and as 27th among research schools. The school also ranks as one of the top medical schools in terms of research funding and expenditures, with US$356 million in extramural research support and US$575 million in total expenditures in 2015–16. In 2019, the school ranked 28th among U.S. medical schools in NIH research grant funding received, with US$229 million received. Grants to the school represent 40 per cent of all research grants received by UW–Madison.
The school is an academic center for embryonic stem cell research, with the school's Professor of Anatomy James Thomson being the first scientist to isolate human embryonic stem cells. This has brought significant attention to the university's research programs. Stem cell research at the school is aided in part by funding from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and the promotion of WiCell.
The school also has teaching and research partnerships with the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics and the University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation, one of the 10 largest physician practice groups in the country. Although students are trained to work in a range of patient care and research areas and the school is committed to training physicians for rural health care, the school has chosen seven core areas of medicine on which it focuses its resources: Aging, Cancer, Cardiovascular and Respiratory Sciences, Neuroscience, Population and Community Health Sciences, Rural Health, and Women's Health. In addition to its primary teaching site at UW Health, UWSMPH maintains teaching affiliations with the adjacent William S. Middleton Memorial Veteran's Hospital (VHA Madison), UnityPoint Meriter Hospital and SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital in Madison, Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee and Green Bay, Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, and the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield.

Programs

The school has a Medical Scientist Training Program, or MD/PhD program that is funded by the NIH. Additionally, the Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine program exists for students intending to practice in rural areas, while the Training in Urban Medicine and Public Health program exists for students interested in practicing in urban areas. Students who enroll in the WARM track spend the majority of their clinical years training through hospitals and clinics affiliated with the La Crosse-based Gundersen Health System, Marshfield-based Marshfield Clinic, or Green Bay-based Aurora BayCare. Students enrolled in TRIUMPH complete the majority of their clinical training in Milwaukee with Aurora Health Care.
Through the Statewide Campus initiative, medical students at UWSMPH who are not enrolled in WARM or TRIUMPH also complete some of their rotations at one of the aforementioned Statewide sites outside of Madison. The Statewide Campus initiative is based on the Wisconsin Idea, the principle that the university's influence should benefit the people of the State of Wisconsin, famously summarized in former UW–Madison President Charles R. Van Hise's statement: "I shall never be content until the beneficent influence of the University reaches every family of the state.”

Leadership

Robert N. Golden was announced as Dean of the School of Medicine and Public Health in 2006. In January 2024, he announced he would be resigning once a new Dean was chosen. In February 2025, Dr. Nita Ahuja was named Dean of the School of Medicine and Public Health.

Notable people

Notable alumni of the school include:
Notable past and present faculty include: