Welcome from Dean Perlmutter
David H. Perlmutter, MD, is executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of Washington University School of Medicine.
Welcome to Washington University School of Medicine
With a world-class faculty, unparalleled medical education, and a $1.2 billion annual investment in basic and medical science research, we are changing the future of medicine and human health.
At WashU, we believe strongly in the virtuous cycle of academic medicine.
Our missions of patient care, education and research are inextricable from each other. We invest in education and research to bring improvements to clinical care, better outcomes for patients, and better health for the community. Our clinicians start the cycle by caring for patients and finish it by bringing research innovations into clinical trials and, ultimately, toward improved care delivery so that their patients live longer, healthier lives. And all of this strengthens – and is strengthened by – a serious dedication to public health and outreach into our local community.
Dean’s annual address
Watch clips from Dean Perlmutter’s annual update on the School of Medicine’s progress and goals.
A culture of collaboration and inclusion is the foundation for our success.
We believe that the best science and the greatest improvements to human health can only come from conversation and collaboration across fields and institutions. By bringing together people from varying backgrounds, experiences and areas of expertise, we develop richer solutions to complex scientific questions, train culturally sensitive clinicians, and provide health care in a way that best serves our diverse patient population. To support these values, we are deeply committed to building a diverse and inclusive community in which everyone is welcomed, respected and supported.
We train the brightest minds for tomorrow’s medical landscape.
All of our graduate programs are consistently ranked at the top of their fields. In 2020 we launched the new Gateway Curriculum, a $100 million undertaking to modernize our MD training in core knowledge, clinical skills, health system understanding, and social sciences to support well-rounded physicians capable of caring for diverse populations. The curriculum includes a strong emphasis on health equity and professional identity formation, and its funding package provides critical support for student scholarships. Of the entering class of 2023, 85% of students are receiving merit and/or need-based scholarship funding and 59% have full tuition funding. The Liaison Committee on Medical Education’s (LCME) 2023 decision to award full accreditation to the medical school for the longest possible term was an unequivocal validation of what we already know: There is no place like WashU when it comes to medical education in the 21st century.
Our clinical faculty is at the forefront of patient care.
Washington University Physicians, the School of Medicine’s clinical practice, is among the largest academic practices in the nation with over 1,800 faculty physicians representing 77 specialties and subspecialties in medicine and allied health. That broad network of specialists and scientists are the medical staff for Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital and they also provide care at numerous other sites throughout the region. Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s are perennially recognized for excellence in patient care and provide an outstanding atmosphere for training our students, residents and fellows. Our clinicians are leaders in their fields, and they work across disciplines to translate new discoveries into better care.
WashU is third among U.S. medical schools in total NIH research funding support.
Field-defining and cutting-edge research in nearly every area of biomedicine — from basic science to translational and clinical investigations — is a hallmark of this school. Our faculty includes 16 National Academy of Sciences fellows, 28 members of the National Academy of Medicine and 12 investigators with National Institutes of Health (NIH) MERIT status. It is our core belief that the science must always serve the patients and so we are committed to developing the strategic industry partnerships that will allow us to shepherd more of the university’s world-class research through the drug development process. The goal is to translate as much laboratory research as possible into real treatments that will recognizably and concretely improve human health.
This is the WashU way.
We synergize research and patient care. We dedicate our lives to the belief that science can change the way we take care of those who come to us for help. And we are relentlessly obsessed with improving on that care, finding new ways for our families and friends and neighbors and fellow humans to live better and healthier lives free of suffering.
Sincerely,
Executive Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs
Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor
George and Carol Bauer Dean, School of Medicine
Washington University in St. Louis