UNC Family Medicine #2 in the Nation

The UNC Department of Family Medicine was ranked 2^nd out of all the Family Medicine departments in the nation in U.S. News & World Report's annual survey of graduate and professional schools.  It was the highest ranked department in the eastern U.S.

“We are pleased to once again be recognized as a national leader in the specialty of Family Medicine.  It is one measure of the excellent quality of our faculty and our innovative work,” said Warren P. Newton, MD, MPH, Chair of the Department of Family Medicine and Executive Associate Dean for Medical Education at the UNC School of Medicine.

Family medicine is a primary care medical specialty which provides continuing and comprehensive health care for the individual and family over the course of a life. It combines acute care, chronic care, and preventative care.  Research has established that communities with low percentages of primary care providers have citizens with poor health outcomes and significantly higher medical costs. 

“This recognition is much more than a bragging right, it is important to our community and the state. America’s primary healthcare system is not well – and as a result, neither are many Americans.  We have a serious national shortage of primary care physicians,” said Newton.  “Our leadership and reputation attracts the best and brightest to our department for training.  A majority of our residency graduates stay in North Carolina to serve and care for our citizens.”

UNC Family Medicine has long been recognized for its excellent medical education programs, including residency and fellowships.   Additionally it is a national leader in research, innovative patient care and community wide interventions. “Increasing, our department’s faculty are involved with piloting and testing elements of possible changes in our health care system,” said Newton about one area of the department’s research efforts.

Family Medicine physicians are specially trained primary care doctors.  They provide a medical home over the course of a life for the whole family from pre-natal to end of life care in a compassionate, cost-effective, and holistic manner. Family physicians diagnose and treat 90 percent of all patient problems, including biological and mental health concerns. Nearly one in four of all office visits in the US annual are made to general and family physicians.  

For the complete list of the U.S. News & World Report Family Medicine Rankings, click here.

Media Contact:

Brad Wilson

UNC Department of Family Medicine

Phone: (919) 843-5112