TheSchool of Medicine and Public Health is a professional school for the study of medicine and public health at theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison. It is one of only two medical schools in Wisconsin, along with theMedical College of Wisconsin inMilwaukee, and the only public one.
The school's main building, the Health Sciences Learning Center, is located at the western end ofUW–Madison's campus, adjacent to theUW 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 byUW–Madison.[1]
Themedical 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,[2] and the entire UWSMPH moved into the state-of-the-art Health Sciences Learning Center in 2004.
Wisconsin General Hospital in the 1930s. Built in 1924, this building served as theUniversity Hospital until 1979, and housed the medical school until 2004. It is today known as the Medical Sciences Center and continues to house the school'soccupational therapy program and anatomy laboratory, along with several otheruniversity departments[3]
In 2024, the school was ranked byU.S. News & World Report as #35 for Best Medical Schools: Research and #26 for Best Medical Schools: Primary Care.[4] In the 2020 edition of graduate school rankings, the school was listed as 16th in primary-care education and as 27th among research schools.[5] 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.[6] In 2019, the school ranked 28th among U.S. medical schools inNIH research grant funding received, with US$229 million received.[7] Grants to the school represent 40 per cent of all research grants received byUW–Madison.[8]
The school is an academic center for embryonic stem cell research, with the school's Professor of AnatomyJames Thomson being the first scientist to isolate human embryonic stem cells.[9][10] This has brought significant attention to the university's research programs. Stem cell research at the school is aided in part by funding from theWisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and the promotion ofWiCell.[citation needed]
The school has aMedical Scientist Training Program, or MD/PhD program that is funded by theNIH. Additionally, the Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine (WARM) program exists for students intending to practice in rural areas, while the Training in Urban Medicine and Public Health (TRIUMPH) program exists for students interested in practicing in urban areas.[14][15] Students who enroll in the WARM track spend the majority of their clinical years training through hospitals and clinics affiliated with theLa Crosse-basedGundersen Health System,Marshfield-basedMarshfield Clinic, orGreen Bay-basedAurora BayCare. Students enrolled in TRIUMPH complete the majority of their clinical training inMilwaukee withAurora Health Care.[16][17]
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 (Gundersen Health System,Marshfield Clinic,Aurora Bay Care, orAurora Health Care–Milwaukee).[18] The Statewide Campus initiative is based on theWisconsin Idea, the principle that the university's influence should benefit the people of the State of Wisconsin, famously summarized in formerUW–Madison PresidentCharles R. Van Hise's statement: "I shall never be content until the beneficent influence of the University reaches every family of the state.”[19][20]
Robert N. Golden was announced as Dean of the School of Medicine and Public Health in 2006.[21] In January 2024, he announced he would be resigning once a new Dean was chosen.[22][23][21] In February 2025, Dr. Nita Ahuja was named Dean of the School of Medicine and Public Health.[24]
Anna Igler (MD 2009), obstetrician and gynecologist and reproductive freedom advocate[30]
Frederic E. Mohs (MD 1934), general surgeon who developed theMohs surgery technique indermatology while a medical student; later became a professor and surgeon at UW–Madison[31]
^"UW Health: Then and Now".www.uwhealth.org. University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority. Archived fromthe original on 2015-09-05. Retrieved2023-04-09.
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