The University of Colorado School of Medicine is the medical school of the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

system. It is located at the

Anschutz Medical Campus The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is the academic health sciences campus in Aurora, Colorado that houses the University of Colorado's six health sciences-related schools and colleges, including the University of Colorado School ...

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, one of the four

campuses, six miles east of downtown

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

at the junction of

Interstate 225 Interstate 225 (I-225) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Colorado. The freeway is a connector spur route of I-25 that acts as an eastern bypass in the Denver metropolitan area and serves Aurora. It also provides direct ...

and

Colfax Avenue Colfax Avenue is the main street that runs east–west through the Denver metropolitan area in Colorado. As U.S. Highway 40, it was one of two principal highways serving Denver before the Interstate Highway System was constructed. In the local ...

. CU School of Medicine is consistently ranked in the top 10 schools for primary care and in the top 30 schools for research.

History

The school was founded in 1883 in Boulder. In 1924, the school relocated to a new campus at Ninth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in

on land donated by Frederick G. Bonfils. This campus also contained a new Colorado General Hospital. By the 1990s, the school was outgrowing its aging facilities. In 1999, the

Fitzsimons Army Medical Center Fitzsimons Army Hospital, also known as Fitzsimons General Hospital and renamed Fitzsimons Army Medical Center (FAMC) in 1974, was a U.S. Army facility located on in Aurora, Colorado. The facility opened in 1918 and closed in 1999. The grounds w ...

closed and between 1999 and 2008 the school of medicine moved to the site, which was renamed the

for the Anschutz Foundation. The Ninth Avenue campus is currently being redeveloped. The new

also contains the

University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine The University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine is the dental school of the University of Colorado. It is located on the Anschutz Medical Campus of the University of Colorado Denver in the city of Aurora, Colorado, United States. It is the o ...

, the University of Colorado College of Nursing, the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy, and the Colorado School of Public Health, as well as

University of Colorado, Denver The University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) is a public research university in Denver, Colorado. It is part of the University of Colorado system. History University of Colorado System Anschutz Medical Campus The University of Colorado create ...

graduate school programs. The

University of Colorado Hospital UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital or University Hospital (formerly named Colorado General Hospital) is part of UCHealth (University of Colorado Health) and is a Level I trauma center and the principal teaching hospital for the University ...

and

Children's Hospital Colorado Children's Hospital Colorado (CHCO) is an academic pediatric acute care children's hospital located in the Anschutz Medical Campus near the interchange of I-225 and Colfax Avenue in Aurora, Colorado. The hospital has 434 pediatric beds at its mai ...

have relocated to the campus, along with the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center. The school operates a campus for 3rd and 4th year medical students completing clinical rotations in

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

and in 2021 opened a campus in

Fort Collins A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

in collaboration with Colorado State University. The School of Medicine offers a four-year program leading to an MD degree, and houses various

graduate programs Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and stru ...

leading to the

PhD degree A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

. The school also includes a Child Health Associate/Physician Assistant (CHAPA) degree and a doctor of Physical Therapy degree. Both are three-year programs. The

Medical Scientist Training Program The Medical Scientist Training Programs (MSTPs) are dual-degree training programs that streamline the education towards both clinical (typically MD) and research doctoral degrees. MSTPs are offered by some United States medical schools, who are aw ...

(MSTP) awards both MD and PhD degrees. There are about 650 MD students at the school, plus 350 in the Physician Assistant and Physical Therapy programs and 400 in Graduate Medical Education. The University of Colorado's School of Pharmacy (SOP) began in 1911 as a division of the School of Medicine. It became an independent college in 1913 and a school in 1957. It received its accreditation in 1938–1939 and awarded a B.S. in Pharmacy degree in 1995–1996 when it received a full accreditation status awarding the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree by the ACPE. In 2008, the school moved to the

, rejoined the medical school, and offers medical and graduate degrees in pharmacy, the pharmaceutical sciences, molecular toxicology, and pharmaceutical outcomes research. 30% of its class is from out of state. In 2009, the NIH awarded $7,310,389 and $19,189,543 in grants towards the SOP and Pharmacology department, respectively. In 2011, the school moved into its new building, the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, located on the Anschutz Medical Campus.

Achievements

The school and its affiliates have a distinguished record of clinical and research achievements. The University of Colorado Cancer Center is designated a

Comprehensive Cancer Center NCI-designated Cancer Centers are a group of 71 cancer research institutions in the United States supported by the National Cancer Institute. Program Three designations are recognized: Comprehensive Cancer Centers, Clinical Cancer Centers, and B ...

by the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

and is ranked 15th in the country by '' U.S. News & World Report''; Overall, the

is ranked as the 15th best hospital in the country.

is routinely ranked in the top 10 in the country by the same publication. The school receives approximately $500 million in research awards annually and is ranked 8th among public medical schools in NIH funding. Major accomplishments include developing the international standard for classifying and numbering human chromosomes by

Theodore Puck Theodore Thomas Puck (September 24, 1916 – November 6, 2005) was an American geneticist born in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Chicago public schools and obtained his bachelors, masters, and doctoral degree from the University of Chicago. His ...

, the first successful human liver transplant by Thomas Starzl, the first description of

toxic shock syndrome Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is a condition caused by bacterial toxins. Symptoms may include fever, rash, skin peeling, and low blood pressure. There may also be symptoms related to the specific underlying infection such as mastitis, osteomyeli ...

by James K. Todd, the first description of

ARDS Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a type of respiratory failure characterized by rapid onset of widespread inflammation in the lungs. Symptoms include shortness of breath (dyspnea), rapid breathing (tachypnea), and bluish skin color ...

, and the discovery of the

T-cell receptor The T-cell receptor (TCR) is a protein complex found on the surface of T cells, or T lymphocytes, that is responsible for recognizing fragments of antigen as peptides bound to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules. The binding b ...

Affiliations

The school's major teaching affiliates are the

, Denver Health, and the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center. With the opening of the new $1.7 billion Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center in 2018, all of these institutions except for Denver Health are adjacent on the

. Other significant affiliates include

National Jewish Health National Jewish Health is a Denver, Colorado academic hospital/clinic doing research and treatment in respiratory, cardiac, immune and related disorders. It is an internationally respected medical center that draws people from many countries to ...

and Saint Joseph Hospital.

Students

The school has admitted men and women on an equal basis since its founding. The school received about 14,000 applications for the MD program for the 2019-20 academic year. There are 184 students accepted each year, including 24 assigned to the new Colorado Springs branch. There is a

. The school also operates physical therapy, physician assistant, and other degree programs which enroll several hundred more students.

Notable people

* Jule Eisenbud * Patricia A. Gabow * Dane Prugh * John Kappler *

Darrell Kirch Darrell G. Kirch ( ) is an American physician who is president and CEO emeritus of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). He trained as a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, before going on to hold senior administrative positions at seve ...

Kjell Lindgren Kjell Norwood Lindgren (born January 23, 1973) is an American astronaut who was selected in June 2009 as a member of the NASA Astronaut Group 20. He launched to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of Expedition 44/ 45 on July 22, 201 ...

* Philippa Marrack *

* Maurice H. Rees * James Robb (pathologist) *

Florence Sabin Florence Rena Sabin (November 9, 1871 – October 3, 1953) was an American medical scientist. She was a pioneer for women in science; she was the first woman to hold a full professorship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the first woman el ...

* Thomas Starzl *

David Talmage David Wilson Talmage (September 15, 1919 – March 6, 2014) was an Americans, American immunology, immunologist. He made significant contributions to the clonal selection theory. Career Talmage was born to American Presbyterian missionaries in Kor ...

Howard L. Weiner Howard L. Weiner (born December 25, 1944) is an American neurologist, neuroscientist and immunologist who is also a writer and filmmaker. He performs clinical and basic research focused on multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurologic diseases suc ...

References

{{Authority control

Medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

Medical schools in Colorado