For the class of 2028, the school received 5,669 applications to fill 104 seats in the MD Program. This puts the acceptance rate at about 1.6%.[3] The medianGPA for the class was 3.94, and the medianMCAT score was 521.[1]
Yale School of Medicine educates future leaders inmedicine andbiomedical science. Since 1839, medical students have written athesis based on original research, reflecting that the scientific process of investigation, observation, interpretation of data, and critical evaluation ofliterature are fundamental to the practice of medicine.[1]
Many medical students take a tuition-free fifth year to pursue additional study, conducting in-depth research or exploring clinical electives andsub-internships.[4] A significant number are awarded fifth-yearresearch fellowships and earn theMaster of Health Science degree.[5]
YSM’s campus-basedPhysician Associate (PA) Program, one of the oldest PA programs in the country, trains students to become compassionate, high-quality, patient-centered PAs.[8]
The school employs the "Yale System" established by YSM Dean Milton Winternitz in the 1920s,[9] wherein first- and second-year students are not graded orranked among their classmates. In addition, courseexaminations are anonymous and are intended only for students'self-evaluation. Student performance is thus based onseminar participation, qualifying examinations (if a student fails, it is his/her responsibility to meet with a professor and arrange for an alternative assessment—passing grades are not released),clinical clerkship evaluations, and theUnited States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). Prior tograduation, students are required to submit athesis based onoriginal research.[9]
For 2024,U.S. News & World Report ranked Yale School of Medicine as a Tier 1 medical school in Best Medical Schools: Research, as a Tier 3 school in Best Medical Schools: Primary Care, tied for No.33 in Most Diverse Medical Schools, No.90 in Most Graduates Practicing in Health Professional Shortage Areas, No.169 in Most Graduates Practicing in Primary Care, and tied at No.161 in Most Graduates Practicing in Rural Areas.[10] The school ranked third forNIH research funding in 2024 as reported by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research.[11]
Original building of Yale School of Medicine, formerly a hotel built byJames Hillhouse at the corner of Grove and Prospect Streets. Originally leased by Yale, the building was later purchased with funds from theConnecticut State Legislature.
One of Yale's earliest medical graduates was Dr. Asaph Leavitt Bissell ofHanover, New Hampshire, who graduated in 1815, a member of the school's second graduating class. Following his graduation, Dr. Bissell moved toSuffield, Connecticut, atobacco-farming community where his parents had lived and where he practiced as a country physician for the rest of his life. The saddlebags that Dr. Bissell carried in his practice, packed with paper packets and glass bottles, are today in the school'sMedical Historical Library.[14]
Yale medical diploma awarded Asaph Leavitt Bissell, Class of 1815, signed by school's four professors andTimothy Dwight IV
In 1916, a little more than acentury after its founding, Yale School of Medicine admitted its first female students. At the time, this stood in marked contrast to theethos of other institutions such asHarvard, which considered it “unladylike” for women to attend medical school at the time. The three women admitted to the Class of 1916 were exceptional—unlike their male counterparts, who needed only two years of college education, they were required to hold a college degree, and aquota further restricted the number of women who were admitted.[15]
Throughout its history, Yale School of Medicine faculty have been credited with seminal scientific discoveries. PediatricianMartha May Eliot, MD, who was recruited to Yale byEdwards A. Park, MD, chair of the medical school’s first Department of Pediatrics, are together credited with developing a cure forrickets in 1925.[16]
Early in 1942,Louis S. Goodman, MD, andAlfred Gilman, PhD, assistant professors in Yale’s new Department of Pharmacology, began to studynitrogen mustard, an agent that was derived from a lethal gas used in the trenches ofWorld War I. Building on research that had languished for years, the two young scientists found in aderivative of mustard gas the first effectivechemotherapy for cancer.[17]
The original building (at Grove and Prospect) later became Sheffield Hall, part of theSheffield Scientific School (razed in 1931). In 1860, the school moved to Medical Hall on York Street, near Chapel (this building was razed in 1957). In 1925, the school moved to its current campus, neighboring the hospital. This campus includes the Sterling Hall of Medicine (erected in 1925),[22] Boyer Center for Molecular Medicine (1991, designed byCesar Pelli),[23][24] Anlyan Center (2003, designed by Payette Associates andVenturi Scott Brown)[25] and the Amistad Building (2007, designed by Herbert Newman)).[26]
On March 28, 2022, Jamie Petrone-Codrington, a former administrator pled guilty to fraud and tax charges for the theft of over $40 million of computer and electronic software.[27] Jamie Petrone-Codrington illegally bought and sold hardware purchased for the School of Medicine, starting in 2013. According to the court records, Petrone-Codrington was turned in by an anonymous tip after being seen loading computer equipment into her private vehicle, and after ordering high volumes of equipment.[28][29]
In 1999, an affiliation agreement was established between the medical school andYale New Haven Health System. The two institutionscollaborate to provide clinical care, undergraduate and graduate medical education, and to facilitate clinical research.[1]
In 2009, the 14-story Smilow Cancer Hospital opened, and in 2012 YNHH acquired theHospital of Saint Raphael, adding 533beds and making it one of the largest hospitals in the United States.[1]
The medical center has grown over the years to include the institutions listed below.
The affiliated VA Connecticut Healthcare System, located inWest Haven, maintains clinical, research, and education programs in conjunction with many medical school departments. The Department of Psychiatry collaborates with the Connecticut Mental Health Center to provide recovery-orientedmental health services for thousands of people in theGreater New Haven area each year.[31]
Before 1845, there was nodean.Nathan Smith, followed byJonathan Knight, provided leadership in the early years. Thereafter, physicians of various specialities have served as dean of the medical school:[32]
Charles Augustus Lindsley, MD (1863–1885): physician and professor of materia, medica, and therapeutics; later professor of the theory and practice of medicine
Amy Arnsten, PhD, Albert E. Kent Professor of Neuroscience and professor of psychology (National Academy of Medicine, 2017)
Pietro De Camilli, MD, John Klingenstein Professor of Neuroscience and professor of cell biology (E.B. Wilson Medal 2021; Julius Axelrod Prize, 2015; American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2012; Institute of Medicine, 2005; American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2001; National Academy of Sciences, 2001; HHMI Investigator, 1992)
Vincent DeVita Jr., MD, Amy and Joseph Perella Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) and professor of epidemiology (Lasker Award, 1972)
Erol Fikrig, MD, Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases), professor of epidemiology (microbial diseases) and of microbial pathogenesis, and section chief for infectious disease in YSM’s Department of Internal Medicine (National Academy of Medicine, 2024)[53]
Richard Flavell, PhD, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology (William B. Coley Award, 2012; Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science, 2013)
Jorge Galàn, DVM, PhD, Lucille P. Markey Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis and professor of cell biology (National Academy of Sciences, 2015; NIH MERIT Award, 2000 and 2015; National Academy of Sciences, 2013)
Valentina Greco, PhD, Carolyn Slayman Professor of Geneitcs (HHMI Investigator, 2024; International Society for Stem Cell Research Momentum Award, 2021; NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, 2019)
Tamas Horvath, DVM, PhD, Jean and David W. Wallace Professor of Comparative Medicine and professor of neuroscience and of obstetrics, gynecology & reproductive sciences (Széchenyi Prize, 2023; Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award, 2016)
Arthur L Horwich, MD, professor emeritus of genetics (Lasker Award, 2011; American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2021; Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, 2020; Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize, 2019; Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research, 2019; E.B. Wilson Medal, 2017; Institute of Medicine, 2008; National Academy of Sciences, 2003)
Akiko Iwasaki, PhD, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology and professor of dermatology and of molecular, cellular & developmental biology, and of epidemiology (Nakaaki Tsukahara Memorial Award, 2024; president of American Association of Immunologists, 2024; Else Kröner Fresenius Prize for Medical Research, 2023; National Academy of Medicine, 2019; National Academy of Sciences, 2018; HHMI Investigator, 2014)
John Krystal, MD, Robert L. McNeil Jr. Professor of Translational Research, chair and professor of psychiatry, and professor of neuroscience and of psychology (Colvin Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Mood Disorders Research, 2019; National Academy of Medicine, 2010)[54]
Haifan Lin, PhD, Eugene Higgins Professor of Cell Biology and professor of genetics, of obstetrics, gynecology & reproductive sciences, and of dermatology, director of Yale Stem Cell Center (Francis Amory Prize, 2024; National Academy of Medicine, 2024; National Academy of Sciences, 2018; American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2018; American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2010)
Ruslan Medzhitov, PhD, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology (Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko Medal, 2024; Dickson Prize in Medicine, 2019; William B. Coley Award, 2013; Else Kröner Fresenius Prize for Medical Research, 2013; National Academy of Sciences, 2010; HHMI Investigator, 2000)
Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS, CNH Long Professor of Internal Medicine (General Medicine) and professor of epidemiology (chronic disease) and of public health, associate dean for health equity research (National Academy of Medicine, 2021)
Lucila Ohno-Machado, MD, MBA, PhD, Waldemar von Zedtwitz Professor of Medicine and of Biomedical Informatics & Data Science, deputy dean for biomedical informatics, chair of biomedical informatics & data science (inaugural Helen M. Ranney Award, 2024; American College of Medical Informatics Distinguished Fellow, 2023; National Academy of Medicine, 2018)
Marina Picciotto, PhD, Charles B.G. Murphy Professor of Psychiatry and professor in the Yale Child Study Center, of neuroscience, and of pharmacology (President of the Society for Neuroscience, 2023-24; American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2024; Carnegie Prize in Mind & Brain Sciences, 2020; Langley Award, 2020)
Pasko Rakic, MD, PhD, Dorys McConnell Duberg Professor of Neuroscience and professor of neurology (Connecticut Medal of Science, 2019; Kavli Prize in neuroscience, 2008; Bristol Myers Squibb Neuroscience Award, 2003)
James Rothman, PhD, Sterling Professor of Cell Biology and professor of chemistry (Lasker Award, 2002; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2013)
David G. Schatz, PhD, Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Immunobiology and Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, chair, Immunobiology (Pail Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize, 2022; National Academy of Medicine, 2019; National Academy of Sciences, 2018; American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2016; American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2014)
Joseph Schlessinger, PhD, Willian H. Prusoff Professor of Pharmacology (BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award, 2015; Institute of Medicine, 2005; American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2001)
Nenad Sestan, MD, PhD, Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Neuroscience and professor of comparative medicine, of genetics, and of psychiatry (Kavli Instituteof Medicine Innovative Research Award, 2022; National Academy of Medicine, 2019)
Joan A. Steitz, PhD, Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry (Wolf Prize, 2021; Lasker-Koshland Award, 2018; E.B. Wilson Medal, 2005; National Medal of Science, 1986; National Academy of Sciences, 1983; American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1983)
Stephen Strittmatter, MD, PhD, Vincent Coates Professor of Neurology and professor of neuroscience (Association of American Physicians, 2024; King Faisal Prize for Medicine, 2021)
Mary Tinetti, MD; Gladys Philips Crofoot Professor of Medicine (Geriatrics) (MacArthur Foundation Fellow, 2009; National Academy of Medicine, 2007)
Emily Wang, MD, professor of medicine and of public health (National Academy of Medicine, 2023; MacArthur Foundation Fellow, 2022; American Society of Clinical Investigation, 2021)
Sidney Altman, PhD (1939-2022): Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology, discovered the catalytic properties of RNA,Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1989
Paul B Beeson, MD (1908-2006): chair and professor of internal medicine and expert in infection
Ruth Whittemore, MDArchived 2025-01-14 at theWayback Machine (1918-2001): pediatric cardiologist who provided pre- and post-operative care for the infant who received the first “blue baby” operation in 1944
^Falvey, Kerry L (November 2, 2010).Medicine at Yale : the first 200 years. New Haven, Conn. : Yale University in association with Yale University Press, c2010.ISBN9780300167306.
^Burrow, Gerard N. (October 24, 2007).A history of Yale's School of Medicine passing torches to others. New Haven : Yale University Press, c2002.ISBN978-0300092073.
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