Magazine ranks ECU among top primary care medical schools

The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University is ranked among the top medical schools in the country that emphasize primary care, according to the annual listing of the top graduate schools by U.S. News & World Report magazine.

ECU is 17th overall among primary care schools this year. ECU is also in the top five among the ranked primary care medical schools with 60 percent of its graduates entering primary care residencies between 2005 and 2007, one category U.S. News uses to measure schools. U.S. News defines primary care as family medicine, pediatrics and internal medicine.

In rural medicine, the school is sixth, up three spots from last year.

“I am very pleased that the Brody School of Medicine continues to be recognized nationally for its outstanding work in the areas of primary care and rural medicine,” said Dr. Phyllis Horns, interim vice chancellor for health sciences at ECU and interim dean of the Brody School of Medicine. “These areas of medical practice are among the highest in demand in the nation and serve a vital role in maintaining access to health care for all Americans.”

The U.S. News rankings of U.S. professional and graduate schools will be available on newsstands Monday, March 31. In medicine, the magazine considered the 125 accredited U.S. medical schools and 20 schools of osteopathic medicine.

This year, the University of Washington again was rated the top primary care school. Harvard University ranked first among medical schools that emphasize research.

Rankings for primary care schools are based on a weighted average of seven indicators, four of them common for research- and primary care-focused schools. The primary care model also considered the number of graduates entering primary care residencies.