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Doctors Looking at X-rays

About Us

  • Nationally known for providing outstanding clinical education in 25 affiliated hospitals, 15 neighborhood health centers, numerous private clinics and doctors’ offices
  • A leader in advancing public health and biomedical research
  • Faculty research grants of $282 million in 2008 on the Medical Campus
  • On the frontiers of scientific and medical knowledge for more than 130 years
  • In 2009, U.S. News & World Report ranks BUSM 35th medical school in the country (between Dartmouth and Brown), 19th in the United States in their international rankings (click here for online story)

A leader in medical education and research, Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) resides at the hub of a modern urban academic health center that provides an exceptional environment for students interested in basic science, clinical investigation, or public health and health services oriented research.

Located in Boston’s historic South End, the School shares a campus with Boston University School of Public Health, Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center, and Boston Medical Center, our primary teaching hospital.

Integrated since 1864 and co-educational since 1873, BUSM has almost 700 medical degree students and more than 800 master’s and doctorate degree students of exceptional qualifications and experience who are pursuing the study of medicine and the biomedical sciences.

For more than 130 years, BUSM faculty have consistently ranked among those on the frontiers of scientific and medical knowledge. Clinical faculty who are engaged in treating diverse patient populations provide patient-centered training and basic science faculty are engaged in cutting-edge research.

Educational Programs

  • Highly integrated program combines clinical, laboratory and lecture opportunities
  • Patient contact is introduced early in program and remains consistent
  • Clinical programs offer more than 40 alternate sites
  • Additional on campus graduate programs offer a broad variety of studies including bioimaging, clinical investigation, medical sciences, and mental health and behavioral medicine, biomedical forensics and genetic counseling.

BUSM’s educational program is designed to train physicians with the clinical skills and knowledge for providing modern healthcare. The basic science curriculum is taught in an innovative format, integrating traditional lecture style classes with small group problem seminars and laboratory exercises. There is emphasis on self-directed learning and on teamwork. Patient contact is introduced in the first week of the first-year curriculum and the formal clinical training of the third and fourth-year students offers broad-based preparation for post-graduate training in the full range of disciplines that comprise modern medicine. A major emphasis is Global Health and many students do clinical or research international electives.

The clinical teaching program provides rich and diverse opportunities in 25 affiliated hospitals, 15 neighborhood health centers, and numerous private clinics and doctors’ offices in greater Boston. Students also participate in a variety of professional and social service activities. In addition, our Division of Graduate Medical Sciences offers doctoral and masters degrees in many health sciences disciplines, including bioimaging, clinical investigation, medical sciences, and mental health and behavioral medicine, biomedical forensics and genetic counseling.

Pathways to BUSM

BUSM has the distinction of having more pathways to the MD degree than any other medical school in the U.S. The eight pathways include:

MD Students

BUSM draws upon a large and highly qualified applicant pool, almost 100 applicants for every seat in the entering class. Our students represent the full range of geographic, cultural, ethnic, and educational diversity of our pluralistic society, and we believe that this diversity contributes to the strength of the experience for all of us. About a third do international clinical or research electives. More than 35% of our students engage in research during their time in medical school In addition 85% of our fourth-year students received one of their top four choices during the 2008 National Resident Matching Program.

Faculty

BUSM attracts some of the most distinguished and highly accomplished faculty who are dedicated to the academic and clinical missions of the School. With a faculty to student ratio of almost 2:1, students have ample access to their knowledge and skills. There are 1,159 faculty members, 946 full-time and 213 part-time.

Clinical Affiliations

BUSM is affiliated with 25 hospitals that provide students with diverse clinical environments in which to learn. Major affiliates include:

  • Boston Medical Center (BMC), Boston, Mass., is a private, not for profit, 625-licensed bed academic medical center located in on the Boston University Medical Campus. The hospital is the primary teaching affiliate for BUSM. Emphasizing community-based care, BMC is the largest safety net hospital and largest 24-hour Level 1 trauma center in New England.
  • Boston Veterans Administration Medical Center, West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, Mass.,the VA Boston Health Care System (VABHCS) is the major tertiary care center for the New England Region. It hosts a number clinical centers of excellence, advanced technology and research initiatives while providing primary care to patients from southern New Hampshire, Cape Cod and a large segment of eastern Massachusetts.
  • Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, Bedford, Mass., is a long-term care facility specializing in geriatric and psychiatric care. Comprehensive health services for veterans include mental health, medicine, psychiatry, physical medicine, dentistry, geriatrics and ambulatory care.
  • Roger Williams Medical Center, Providence, R.I., is a community-owned and governed health care organization that provides advanced specialty care. Established in 1878 as the Homeopathic Hospital of Rhode Island, Roger Williams Medical Center provides advanced diagnostic services, specialized surgery and medical care in their inpatient and outpatient settings
  • Quincy Medical Center,Quincy, Mass., is a private, non-profit community teaching hospital that has provided more than a century of public service to the City of Quincy and communities of the South Shore of Massachusetts.

Graduate Medical Education

BUSM and BMC graduate medical education programs train and prepare physicians for board eligibility through curricula that reflect an appropriate balance of patient care, education and research.

  • More than 620 residents
  • 44 ACGME-accredited specialty and sub-specialties
  • 32 participating institutions

Research

BUSM is home to one of the largest and most rapidly growing research programs of U.S. medical schools. There are currently more than 600 funded research programs that total more than $180 million in NIH support and provide an exceptional environment for students interested in basic science, clinical investigation, or public health and health services oriented research. 

The National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories, (NEIDL) represents a major step forward at BUSM in advancing public health and biomedical research.  The biocontainment laboratory has been developed in partnership with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.  Its mission is to develop diagnostic drugs, vaccines and treatments to prevent and cure life- threatening infectious diseases.  A state-of-the-art BS Level 4 Laboratory is housed within this 194,000 square foot facility.

The Framingham Heart Study, which has been administered by BUSM faculty in cooperation with National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute since 1971, was initiated in 1948 to identify factors contributing to cardiovascular disease, principally heart attack and stroke. For the past 60 years, the Study participants have returned every two years to undergo a detailed medical history, physical examination and laboratory tests, providing BUSM and other researchers a wealth of information on cardiovascular disease and a host of factors that affect physical and cognitive health. Two additional generations – children and grandchildren of the original group – have been added to the study.
The principal investigators and the project directors of the Framingham Heart Study have all been BUSM faculty.

Core research facilities (click here)

History

BUSM was formed in 1873 when Boston University merged with the New England Female Medical College, becoming the first coeducational medical school. The New England Female Medical College, founded in 1848, was the first institution in the U.S. to train women in medicine and graduated the first black woman physician. Throughout our history we have maintained a strong commitment to the study and practice of medicine in the context of a mission of service to society.

  • First Native American MD: Charles Eastman (BUSM 1890), the central figure in  "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee"
  • First U.S. African-American psychiatrist - Solomon Carter Fuller (BUSM 1897)
  • Among the first in U.S. to offer combined BA-MD degree
  • Established first combined cancer research and teaching laboratory in U.S.
  • First section of gastroenterology in U.S., established in 1942
  • First studies on the use of penicillin in civilians with infectious diseases, 1944
  • First medical school to work with U.S. Public Health Service National Heart Lung and Blood Institute to identify risk factors for cardiovascular disease creating the Framingham Heart Study in 1948
  • Nobel Prize for Chemistry awarded in 2008 to Osamu Shimomura for his work on Green Fluorescent Protein
  • Home of the NIH funded National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratories, one of a few such labs in the country

 

 

 

Last updated 5/12/09