April 1, 2022
University of California health professional students walking in a group outside of a medical facility

Health professional schools across the University of California system again achieved strong rankings in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Schools for 2023. 

UC’s six schools of medicine ranked nationally across multiple measures, including three in the top 15 for primary care and three in the top 20 for research. UC schools of nursing scored highly with three master’s degree programs recognized among the top 25 nationally. Two UC public health schools ranked in the top 10 nationally and another was rated in the top 20.

U.S. News continued its review of U.S. medical school diversity this year and rated four UC medical schools in the top 15, with UC Davis No. 3 in the nation; UCSF and UC Riverside tied for No. 11; and UCLA at No. 14. U.S. News’ diversity index was created to measure progress in enrolling students from underrepresented groups and creating a future health workforce that better reflects the general population.

“Ongoing work to bring diversity into medical schools is important to ensure we have more physicians who deeply understand the needs of our communities. It is rewarding to see UC medical schools highly ranked in this area as we continue to work on increasing equity and inclusion through expansion of our PRIME programs,” said Dr. Carrie L. Byington, executive vice president of University of California Health.

UC’s health professional schools support the University’s education, research and service mission, especially as they train health care professionals to help address the severe shortage of providers across the State. Nearly 70 percent of UC health professional school graduates choose to remain in California.

“UC health professional schools continue to lead the way in training our next generation of health professionals who will advance patient care, research our most pressing health conditions, and develop new evidence-based solutions,” said Dr. Cathryn Nation, vice president for health sciences. “As we’ve experienced throughout the pandemic, it is critical to have a strong, diverse and resilient health care workforce.” 

U.S. News’ 2023 rankings contained updated ratings on graduate programs in medicine, nursing and public health. Recognitions of UC health professional schools included:

  • The UC Berkeley School of Public Health ranked No. 8 out of 190 Master of Public Health programs in the U.S. accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health. Berkeley Public Health’s biostatistics doctorate program was ranked No. 7 (tie).
  • UC Davis School of Medicine ranked as No. 3 in the nation in diversity and No. 8 for primary care, as well as No. 51 (tie) for research. Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis was in top 25 for second year running, up one spot to No. 23 nationally for its master’s degree programs. For the first time, the Master of Science – Family Nurse Practitioner program was ranked No. 7. UC Davis graduate program in public health rose to No. 19 (tie).
  • UC’s newest medical school at UC Riverside, which is helping train more diverse medical professionals, especially for medically underserved regions such as the Inland Empire and Central Valley, ranked No. 11 (tie) on this year’s diversity index.
  • At UC San Diego, the school of medicine ranked No. 20 for research and No. 32 for primary care. 
  • UCI’s graduate program in public health rose to No. 31 and the Bill and Sue Gross School of Nursing increased its ranking to No. 42 (tie). UCI School of Medicine was rated No. 51 (tie) for research and No. 61 (tie) for primary care.
  • David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA ranked among the nation’s top 20 medical schools in primary care (No. 13) and research (No. 19). In the assessment’s diversity index, the Geffen School of Medicine was No. 14. UCLA Fielding School of Public Health again ranked No. 10 nationally and the UCLA School of Nursing’s master’s degree programs were No.19. 
  • UCSF School of Medicine was the only school in the ratings list that ranked in the top five in both research and primary care, tying for third in research and placing second in primary care. The medical school also scored strongly for diversity, tied for No. 11 with UC Riverside. UCSF’s school of nursing ranked No. 11 overall among 200 master’s degree programs nationwide. The school’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program, which only recently launched and received accreditation in 2020, ranked No. 35 out of nearly 160 programs nationwide.

U.S. News each year evaluates professional graduate schools using two types of data: expert opinions about program excellence and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school's faculty, research and students. The index of most diverse medical schools was included for the second time in this year's report, using school-level race and ethnicity enrollment information reported to U.S. News by the schools.

About University of California Health

University of California Health comprises six academic health centers, 20 health professional schools, a Global Health Institute and systemwide services that improve the health of patients and the University’s students, faculty and employees. All of UC’s hospitals are ranked among the best in California and its medical schools and health professional schools are nationally ranked in their respective areas.