The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences (abbreviated as GW Medical School or SMHS) is the professional medical school of the

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...

, in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

SMHS is one of the most selective medical schools in the United States based on the number of applicants.

Rankings

'' U.S. News & World Report'' ranks GW Medicine as having the third best physician assistant program, the 40th best physical therapy program, as tied for the 60th best research medical school, and as tied for the 68th best primary care medical school in the United States. The

George Washington University Hospital The George Washington University Hospital is a for-profit hospital, located in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is affiliated with the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. The current facility opened on ...

has routinely served the medical needs of

presidents of the United States The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. The officeholder leads the executive branch of the federal government and ...

and members of the U.S. Congress. GW Medicine is one of the most selective medical schools in the U.S. based on the number of applicants (rather than based on GPA and MCAT scores), with the fifth-lowest acceptance rate of any medical school in the United States. GW SMHS experienced a rise in the number of applications, to 14,649 applications in 2012. It receives more applications each year than any other allopathic medical school in the country. The school has more than 700 medical students currently enrolled in its

Doctor of Medicine Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

(MD) program.

Academics

The School of Medicine and Health Sciences contains a variety of programs such as the M.D. Program, the Physician Assistant program, and the Physical Therapy program. Multiple nobel laureates have been affiliated with SMHS, including

Ferid Murad Ferid Murad (born September 14, 1936) is an American physician and pharmacologist, and a co-winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Early life Murad was born in Whiting, Indiana. His parents were Henrietta Josephine Bowm ...

Vincent du Vigneaud Vincent du Vigneaud (May 18, 1901 – December 11, 1978) was an American biochemist. He was recipient of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his work on biochemically important sulphur compounds, especially for the first synthesis of a polypep ...

, and

Julius Axelrod Julius Axelrod (May 30, 1912 – December 29, 2004) was an American biochemist. He won a share of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970 along with Bernard Katz and Ulf von Euler. The Nobel Committee honored him for his work on the re ...

. The school maintains numerous research centers and institutes. Among the most notable are The Dr. Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen Cancer Research Center, the GW Heart and Vascular Institute, the McCormick Genomic and Proteomic Center, the W.M. Keck Institute for Proteomics Technology and Applications, The Rodham Institute, Washington Institute of Surgical Endoscropy, the Ronald Reagan Institute of Emergency Medicine, the GW Institute for Neuroscience, and the GW HIV/AIDS Institute. The Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library is the academic library for GW SMHS.

International Medicine Program

The International MD Program was developed by the Office of International Medicine Programs at GW in response to the great demand for U.S.-educated physicians abroad. Differences in educational/teaching styles, language, and culture may present further obstacles to international students who apply to American programs. The International MD Program is designed to facilitate international students who wish to practice medicine, and to further GW's mission to improve the health and well-being of communities beyond its locale by promoting the exchange of knowledge across cultures. Residency training for graduates of non-U.S. medical schools and colleges is also provided by GW SMHS.

Other programs

Other programs include clinical laboratory sciences and administration training. The school also offers a nurse practitioner program and a physician assistant program. The school offers many Early Selection options through participating universities, as well as a seven-year accelerated program.

Admissions

George Washington University Hospital - 2012

Admission to the School of Medicine and Health Sciences is the most competitive of the

's graduate programs. For the 2022-2023 application cycle which matriculated its class of 2026 in the Fall of 2022, about 181 accepted students matriculated out of a competitive pool of 15,216 applicants who all applied to The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences M.D. Program. Of the 15,216 applicants, only about 800 were interviewed, and just over 300 students were accepted with 181 matriculating. The George Washington University School of Medicine has an acceptance rate of 1.09% for students matriculating to School of Medicine in the Class of 2026. The George Washington University was the 4th most applied to medical school in the country for the 2022 matriculating year and was ranked as the 7th most selective medical school in the United States based on the number of applicants. The School of Medicine had the lowest admissions rate in the United States in 2016 and 2013 based on the number of applicants (1.1 percent during 2016 admission cycle) according to '' U.S. News & World Report''. For the MD class entering in 2019, a little more than 1,000 applicants were interviewed out of a total number of 12,057 applicants. Approximately 300 individuals were accepted, with 184 enrolling. Students had an average GPA of 3.71, and a mean MCAT score of 512.8. Among the 46 medical schools with the highest MCAT scores, the typical student had an average score of 517, while the average MCAT for matriculants of all medical schools was 511.5. Four out of every ten students holds an undergraduate degrees in the arts, humanities, or social sciences. A unique aspect of the school is the Practice of Medicine (POM) course that spans the entire length of a medical student's education. GW was one of the first in the country to place students in clinical settings from the start of their medical school experience.

Research

George Washington University Medical School USNWR

GW SMHS is home to many research centers and institutes. Among them are the Dr. Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen Cancer Research Center, the GW Cancer Center, the Rodham Institute, the Institute for Biomedical Sciences, and the GW Institute for Neuroscience.

The Health Sciences Research Commons

Health Sciences Research CommonsHSRC
is an online repository for GWU School of Medicine and Health Sciences staff and faculty research articles and other publications.

Affiliations

Children's National Medical Center

The Department of Pediatrics within SMHS is housed at Children's National Medical Center. In addition, the SMHS and Children's National partner on a variety of projects and initiatives.

Medical Faculty Associates

The school has a partnership with the

Medical Faculty Associates who have over 800 physicians on staff that provide teaching and professional services to the community. The staff of GW MFA are also academic clinical faculty of the SMHS.

Controversy

In 2008, the LCME or

Liaison Committee on Medical Education The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) is an accrediting body for educational programs at schools of medicine in the United States and Canada.''Glossary.'' ACGME website. The LCME is sponsored by the Association of American Medical Co ...

put the George Washington University Medical School on accreditation probation, citing a number of issues. While declining to publish the entire list, among the problems acknowledged by GW were its outdated system of managing its curriculum, the curriculum itself, high levels of student debt, student mistreatment, and inadequate study and lounge space for its students. Significantly, in 2008, GWU was the only medical school (among 129 LCME accredited institutions) to be placed on probation and the first such in fifteen years. GW implemented a plan to rectify these problems. Its probationary status was lifted in February 2010. Subsequently, the two top GWU medical school administrators were forced to resign over the alleged conflicts of interest.

Notable people

File:Axelrod01.jpg,

, winner of the 1970

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...

File:RADM_Kenneth_P._Moritsugu,_USPHSCC.jpg,

Kenneth P. Moritsugu Kenneth P. Moritsugu (born March 5, 1945) is an American physician and public health administrator who was the first Asian American US Surgeon General. Mortisugu was a rear admiral in the USPHSCC, who retired in September 2007 as acting United ...

U.S. Surgeon General The surgeon general of the United States is the operational head of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government of the United States. Th ...

File:Jeffrey_Lieberman.jpg, Jeffrey Lieberman, President of the

American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 37,000 members are involv ...

File:Nci-vol-2727-300 Vincent DeVita (cropped).jpg, Vincent T. DeVita, President of the American Cancer Society File:Neal D. Barnard (cropped).jpg, Neal D. Barnard, Founder of the

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is a non-profit research and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., which promotes a plant-based diet, preventive medicine, and alternatives to animal research, and encourages ...

File:Seo_Jae-pil_1947.jpg,

Soh Jaipil Soh Jaipil or Seo Jae-pil (January 7, 1864 – January 5, 1951), also known as Philip Jaisohn, was a Korean-American political activist and physician who was a noted champion of the Korean independence movement, the first Korean naturalized citi ...

, leader of the

Korean independence movement The Korean independence movement was a military and diplomatic campaign to achieve the independence of Korea from Empire of Japan, Japan. After the Japanese Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, annexation of Korea in 1910, Korea's domestic resistance pe ...

File:James_I_Ausman,_M.D.,_Ph.D._photo,_James_I._Ausman,_M.D.,_PhD.jpg,

James I. Ausman James Ivan Ausman (born December 10, 1937) is an American neurosurgeon, science editor, television broadcaster, medical entrepreneur, and public advocate on health-care reform. He currently is professor of neurosurgery at the University of Calif ...

, Editor-in-Chief of '' Surgical Neurology International'' File:Donna_christensen.JPG,

Donna Christian-Christensen Donna Marie Christian-Christensen, formerly Donna Christian-Green (born September 19, 1945), is an American physician and politician. She served as the 4th elected non-voting Delegate from the United States Virgin Islands's at-large district to t ...

, Resident Commissioner of the U.S. Virgin Islands File:Francis_delmonico.jpg,

Francis L. Delmonico Francis L. Delmonico, MD, FACS (born in New York in 1945) is a surgeon, clinical professor and health expert in the field of transplantation. He serves on numerous committees and is affiliated with various leading organizations and institutions. ...

, member of the

Pontifical Academy of Sciences The Pontifical Academy of Sciences ( it, Pontificia accademia delle scienze, la, Pontificia Academia Scientiarum) is a Academy of sciences, scientific academy of the Vatican City, established in 1936 by Pope Pius XI. Its aim is to promote the ...

File:Neal_Dunn_115th_Congress_photo.jpg,

Neal Dunn Neal Patrick Dunn (born February 16, 1953) is an American surgeon and Republican Party politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2017. Early life and career Dunn was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 16, 1953. He earne ...

, U.S. Congressman from Florida

Notable alumni

Notable faculty

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences Colleges and Schools of The George Washington University Medical schools in Washington, D.C. Educational institutions established in 1824 Medical research institutes in Washington, D.C. Health sciences schools in the United States