CLEVELAND -- Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine’s Department of Physiology and Biophysics has recently been ranked 2nd in the nation of academic medical centers offering doctoral programs by The Chronicle of Higher Education. The announcement, published in the Jan. 12th, 2007 issue of The Chronicle: A New Standard for Measuring Doctoral Programs, includes 166 large research universities that encompass 15 or more Ph.D. programs along with 61 smaller research universities offering up to 14 Ph.D. programs.

“This annual index, which ranks Ph.D. granting departments according to their scholarly output, would not have been possible without a commitment to excellence by every member of the faculty”, said Cathy Carlin, Ph.D., Professor and Interim Chair Physiology and Biophysics.

The Department of Physiology and Biophysics has a strong tradition in research and teaching spanning more than a century. The Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, which was founded in 1863, offered the first required laboratory course in physiology in the United States in 1888. The Department's extramural research support is now in excess of ten million dollars a year, making this one of the largest and most active programs in Physiology and Biophysics in the U.S. and abroad. The Department is currently ranked #8 nationally among the 123 departments of physiology based on funding received from the National Institutes of Health, the nation's largest funding agency of biomedical research.

“I am very proud that the Department of Physiology and Biophysics has scored so well in this ranking, which is driven largely by objective measures rather than subjective reputation score”, said Pamela Davis, M.D., Ph.D., Interim Dean, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. “The strong tradition of excellence in this department is inspiring. I congratulate all the faculty, students, postdoctoral fellows, and staff who worked together to contribute to the papers and grants that made this ranking so high.

It is also recognition that our graduate education program is a credit to the medical school and the university. Our success goes hand-in-hand with the creativity and dedication of our Ph.D. students who continue to be a major driving force in our research programs.”

About Case School of Medicine
Founded in 1843, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is the largest medical research institution in Ohio and 12th largest among the nation’s medical schools for research funding from the National Institutes of Health. Eleven Nobel Laureates have been affiliated with the school.

The School of Medicine is recognized throughout the international medical community for outstanding achievements in teaching and in 2002, became the third medical school in history to receive a pre-eminent review from the national body responsible for accrediting the nation’s academic medical institutions. The School’s innovative and pioneering Western Reserve2 curriculum interweaves four themes--research and scholarship, clinical mastery, leadership, and civic professionalism--to prepare students for the practice of evidence-based medicine in the rapidly changing health care environment of the 21st century.

Annually, the School of Medicine trains more than 600 M.D. and M.D./Ph.D. students and ranks in the top 25 among U.S. research-oriented medical schools as designated by U.S. News and World Report Guide to Graduate Education.

The School of Medicine’s primary clinical affiliate is University Hospitals Case Medical Center and is additionally affiliated with MetroHealth Medical Center, the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, with which it established the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in 2002. http://casemed.case.edu