Here are the physicians leading the U.S.' top 10 medical schools in 2024, as ranked by the U.S. Career Institute, an online career training platform:
1. Harvard University (Boston): George Daley, MD, PhD, is the dean of Harvard Medical School. He is a physician-scientist and educator whose achievements span basic science, translational research and clinical medicine. Dr. Daley focuses on stem cell science and cancer biology, and his discoveries have twice been cited in Science's Top 10 Breakthroughs of the Year.
2. Stanford (Calif.) University: Lloyd Minor, MD, is the dean of Stanford University's school of medicine. Dr. Minor is a scientist and surgeon who is also a professor of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery and a professor of bioengineering and of neurobiology. In August, Dr. Minor was appointed vice president for medical affairs to lead all matters related to health and medicine at Stanford University. Before Stanford, Dr. Minor was provost and senior vice president for academic affairs of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
3. Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore): Theodore DeWeese, MD, is dean and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine. He is also a professor of urology and oncology, specializing in prostate cancer, radiation oncology and urological oncology. He is focused on developing new ways to enhance radiation-induced killing of prostate cancer cells.
4. University of California Los Angeles: Steve Dubinett, MD, has been dean of UCLA's school of medicine since 2023, first entering the role in interim in 2021. He has experience in internal medicine, joint care, pulmonary medicine and tumor immunology. In 1988, Dr. Dubinett began his research program focusing on understanding why lung cancer patients were not responding to immunotherapy.
5. University of California San Francisco: Talmadge King, MD, has been dean of the UCSF School of Medicine and vice chancellor for medical affairs since July 2015. He began his career at UCSF in 1997 as chief of medical services at Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. As a physician, his research focused on inflammatory and immunologic lung injury. He is best known for his pioneering work in the management of the interstitial pneumonias, a scarring process that often leads to death.
6. Yale University (New Haven, Conn.): Nancy Brown, MD, leads the Yale school of medicine as dean and serves as a professor of internal medicine. She leads research programs that focus on developing new pharmacological strategies to prevent vascular disease in patients with high blood pressure and diabetes. She previously served as chair of the Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt Department of Medicine and physician-in-chief of Vanderbilt University Hospital for 10 years.
7. Columbia University (New York City): Katrina Armstrong, MD, leads Columbia University’s medical campus as CEO of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center and dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Before joining Columbia, Dr. Armstrong was chair of the department of medicine and physician-in-chief of Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Armstrong was the first woman physician-in-chief at Massachusetts General Hospital when she joined Harvard in 2013.
8. University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia): Jonathan Epstein, MD, is dean of the Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Epstein has directed a highly impactful research program throughout his 27-year tenure at Penn and is widely recognized for contributions to the understanding of congenital heart disease, heart failure, stem cell biology and epigenetics. His most recent advances involve utilizing modified mRNA delivered with targeted lipid nanoparticles to engineer immune cells within the body to fight heart disease, cancer and other disorders.
9. Duke University (Durham, N.C.): Mary Klotman, MD, leads the Duke University School of Medicine as dean. She also serves as the chief academic officer for Duke Health. She works with a leadership team comprising 13 vice deans and a chief of staff, as well as department chairs and center and institute directors.
10. University of Washington (Seattle): Timothy Dellit, MD, was named dean and CEO of UW Medicine in 2023. He held the role in the interim beginning in 2022. He has expertise as an infectious diseases specialist and has helped lead at UW since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.