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School of Medicine Facts

Washington University School of Medicine has a rich history of success in research, education and patient care.

Our faculty pioneered bedside teaching and led the transformation of empirical knowledge into clinical practice. Our alumni achieve highly sought-after residencies and fellowships, challenging research endeavors, and successful, rewarding careers in medicine, allied health and public health.

Incoming MD students pledge an oath at their White Coat Ceremony
Prefer to get the Facts in print?
2023 Facts brochure (pdf) »

School of Medicine at a glance (FY 2022)

  • Founded1891
  • LocationSt. Louis, MO
  • Economic impact$8B

  • Departments21
  • Alumni28, 279

  • NIH funding$569.2M
  • Patent filings (FY2022)491
  • Nobel winners19

  • Clinical sites60+
  • Specialties77
  • Outpatient visits1.5M

Total Students1,432

  • MD, MD/PhD593
  • Applied Health Behavior15
  • Audiology & Communication Sciences69
  • Biomedical Informatics20
  • Clinical Investigation68
  • Genetic Counseling
    8
  • Genetic Epidemiology & Biostatistics38
  • Medical Physics12
  • Nursing Science8
  • Occupational Therapy298
  • Physical Therapy288
  • Population Health Sciences15

Total Employees13,308

  • Faculty2,814
  • Staff10,494

  • Residents and clinical fellows1,322

More about Washington University School of Medicine

Leadership

Medical school dean

David H. Perlmutter, MD
Executive Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs
Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor
George and Carol Bauer Dean, School of Medicine


Medical school officers, WUMC board members and National Council

Visit the Bulletin website »

Departments and department heads

Washington University School of Medicine has 21 academic departments that support the school’s three-part mission of conducting outstanding patient care, education and research.

See departments and department heads »

Degree programs

The School of Medicine offers master’s and doctoral degree programs in medicine, biomedical research, allied health professions and clinical and population research.

See all degree programs »

History

In 1891, responding to a national concern for improving doctors’ training, the Washington University administration established a medical department. In 1909, Robert Brookings, a successful businessman turned philanthropist, set about transforming the department into a modern medical school with full-time faculty, adequate endowment, modern laboratories and associated teaching hospitals.

Read the full history »

Faculty

The School of Medicine has more than 2,800 full-time faculty members.

Outstanding achievements of our current faculty include:

  • 16 fellows of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences
  • 28 elected to National Academy of Medicine
  • 112 individual and/or institutional career development awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • 12 investigators with NIH MERIT status, a special recognition that provides long-term, uninterrupted financial funding
  • 64 career development awards from non-federal agencies

In addition, 19 Nobel laureates have been associated with the School of Medicine.

Doctor of Medicine program and students

Washington University School of Medicine offers six combined MD programs in addition to the regular four-year program leading to an MD. The MD/PhD degree program, known as the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), is among the largest in the country.

See all MD degree programs »

Applications and enrollment

The MD program attracts a diverse cohort of the world’s best and brightest. Applications for the 2022-23 academic year include:

  • 5,584 applications
  • 124 first-year students enrolled

See tuition for the most recent academic year »

Residency match data

Program graduates are highly successful in obtaining competitive residency training positions through national matching programs, and residency program directors rate our graduates very highly as compared to other trainees in their cohort.

See Match Day results »

Community engagement

School of Medicine students participate in dozens of organizations including the American Medical Student Association, the American Medical Women’s Association and the Student National Medical Association.

Students apply their talents in the community to:

  • Help health-care workers and members of the community during COVID-19 response
  • Participate in clinics for the medically underserved
  • Gain experience in public health, community medicine and nonprofit work
  • Introduce disadvantaged high school students to careers in science and medicine
  • Teach HIV and AIDS prevention in area public schools

Learn more about student engagement programs »

Graduate Medical Education Consortium

Washington University School of Medicine, with Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital, sponsors a consortium for graduate medical education.

The group operates 100 training programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and approximately 80 other specialties that continue the institutions’ long histories of successfully training outstanding residents and clinical fellows in medical education, research and patient care.

Both the GME Consortium and all of its sponsored training programs are in good standing with the ACGME and are fully committed to providing a quality educational experience to the residents and clinical fellows training in these programs.

Visit the Graduate Medical Education Consortium website »

Gifts, grants and research support

Grants and contracts totaling more than $838.3 million supported faculty research efforts at the School of Medicine during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022. Substantial additional support was provided directly to faculty investigators by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Gifts and grants from thousands of private sources, including alumni, individuals, foundations, corporations and other organizations, totaled $191 million.

The School of Medicine received $569.2 million from the National Institutes of Health in the 2022 federal fiscal year.

Revenue and economic impact

Fiscal year 2022 revenue: $3.3 billion
Includes research support and patient services

Regional economic impact: $8 billion
Washington University Medical Campus

Research highlights

Advances in COVID-19 research include:

  • Developed an intranasal vaccine for COVID-19 that has been approved for use in India and licensed to a U.S. company that is aiming for commercialization in th U.S., Europe and Japan.
  • Investigated the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection to understand the role of a natural infection, vaccination and booster shots in providing protection agains disease.
  • Participated in national and international vaccine and drug clinical trials
  • Played a leading role in the NIH-sponsored ACTIV-1 trial, evaluating whether anti-inflammatory drugs can shorten hospital stays
  • Conducted research to document the toll of long COVID, including increased risk of memory problems; diabetes; heart, liver and kidney problems; stroke; depression and anxiety; and death.

Ongoing clinical research includes:

  • Participating in a national network to determine new ways to prevent preterm birth
  • Developing new ways to diagnose and treat stroke as part of a national network of leading stroke treatment centers
  • Making groundbreaking contributions to decoding the genetics of cancer and developing personalized treatments
  • Leading an international collaboration to study inherited Alzheimer’s disease and spearheading the first drug prevention trials
  • Pioneering non-invasive radiation treatment for life-threatening heart arrhythmias

Ongoing basic research includes:

  • Developing new strategies to fight antibiotic resistance, including vaccines against superbugs
  • Leading an international effort to map major brain circuits to understand how the mind works and the roots of brain disease
  • Pioneering studies probing the links between obesity and malnutrition and the community of microbes living in the gut
  • In battling neurodegenerative diseases, identify new therapeutic approaches that target a molecule central to the death of axons
  • Studying role of senescent cells in aging, cancer and neurodegeneration, with goal of developing treatments

See more research firsts and ongoing research highlights »

Alumni

As of 2022, the 28,279 School of Medicine alumni include:

  • Medical: 10,459
  • Former House Staff: 7,999
  • Health Administration Program (1946-2008): 1,188
  • Program in Occupational Therapy: 2,878
  • Program in Physical Therapy: 3,105
  • Program in Audiology and Communication Sciences: 2,068
  • Nursing Program (1905–69): 582

Each year, MD, OT, PT and PACS alumni engage in providing philanthropic and volunteer support for their primary degree-granting programs.

Scholarships and professorships
Friends and alumni of the School of Medicine provide gifts through the William Greenleaf Eliot Society to support the academic and research priorities of the school.

Washington University Medical Center Alumni Association (WUMCAA)
WUMCAA sponsors various programs for MD alumni, former house staff and current medical students.

Distinguished Alumni Scholarship Program
This program provides full scholarships to four incoming medical students each year.

The Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences

Organized in 1973, the Roy and Diana Vagelos Division of Biology & Biomedical Sciences (DBBS) is a graduate educational consortium of faculty affiliated with 39 basic science and clinical departments in the School of Medicine, the School of Engineering and the College of Arts & Sciences. DBBS programs are designed to provide a broad, collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to graduate education, emphasizing investigation into many of today’s most important biological questions.

Graduate study in the DBBS is highly individualized and focuses on the needs and interests of students, each of whom is free to choose a mentor for laboratory and dissertation research from among faculty members in the division.

By the numbers:

  • Total DBBS students: 827
  • Faculty members: 650
  • Departments: 39

MD/PhD Program

The MD/PhD program, known as the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), is one of the largest in the country. Its mission is to train the next generation of clinician-scientists interested in academic careers at major medical schools and research institutions.

  • Number of students: 206

Washington University Medical Campus

With more than 27,000 employees, the Washington University Medical Campus comprises an interdisciplinary community of institutions and individuals dedicated to preparing the next generation of health-care leaders and providing solutions that advance human health locally, nationally and globally.

Corporate partners:

In addition to its corporate partners, the Medical Campus is home to the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, The Rehabilitation Institute of St. Louis, University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy, Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College and Shriners Hospital for Children.

Facilities

The Washington University Medical Campus covers 18 city blocks and includes 2.6 million square feet of research and instructional space.

Campus maps »

New construction and major renovations »

Recently completed projects »

Washington University Physicians clinical care

Washington University Physicians, the school’s full-time clinical faculty, is among the largest academic clinical practices in the nation.

By the numbers:

  • Clinical faculty: 1,888
  • Specialties and subspecialties: 77
  • Clinical sites: 60+
  • Outpatient visits (2022): 1,535,438
  • WashU faculty hospital discharges (BJH/SLCH, 2022): 103,604
  • Patient services revenue (WUSM, 2022 fiscal year): $1.7 billion

Affiliated hospitals and centers

Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital are our primary teaching hospitals, and Washington University Physicians see patients at additional sites throughout the St. Louis region. Our corporate partners include BJC HealthCare, a consortium of healthcare providers that includes several of our teaching hospitals.

See our partner hospitals and centers »