This year, the UC Davis School of Medicine continued to thrive as a national leader in primary care medical education and groundbreaking research.
The 2026 U.S. News & World Report rankings again placed us in Tier 1 for excellence in primary care training and among the best in research. We also ranked 16th for the most graduates practicing in primary care, including family medicine, pediatrics and internal medicine.
This year’s Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research ranked our medical school 31st nationally, setting a new record of $233 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants.
Twelve of our departments ranked in the top 20 nationally for NIH research funding, and Public Health Sciences and Neurology ranked in the top 10. All our basic science departments ranked in the top 20 nationally.
“We must continue to seek such funding solutions to safeguard life-changing breakthroughs discovered at the University of California and elsewhere.”—Susan Murin, M.D., M.Sc., M.B.A., Dean, UC Davis School of Medicine
In May, we celebrated our largest graduating class of 124 medical students, with inspirational speakers and a surprise on-stage marriage proposal that’s gone viral with millions of views.
Our 2026 graduates will soon begin their medical residencies, with about 90% staying in California and 50% matching into a primary care specialty. We are delighted that nearly a quarter of our graduates will remain at UC Davis Health for their residency training.
With federal research funding at risk, alternative funding sources are increasingly more critical to advance scientific discovery and innovation.
Senate Bill 895, the California Science and Health Research Bond Act, is co-sponsored by the University of California and authored by state Senator Scott Wiener. The bill would place a bond on the November 2026 ballot, giving California voters the opportunity to decide whether the state should fund scientific research. The bill has received broad, bipartisan support and would establish a foundation to fund competitive research grants, low-interest loans and modernized research facilities focused on urgent statewide priorities.
We must continue to seek such funding solutions to safeguard life-changing research breakthroughs discovered at the University of California and elsewhere.
As my five-year term as dean winds down and UC Davis Health’s search for a new School of Medicine dean is well underway, I could not be prouder of our mission-driven School of Medicine community.
Thank you for supporting our missions to train the next generation of physician leaders and scientists, and our research and healthcare innovations that are transforming lives.
