Dean's Welcome
Dr. Mark B. Taubman
Welcome to the School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Rochester. I am proud of our national reputation for educational excellence and innovation. We are a place where big ideas and small details come together, giving you a state-of-the-art learning experience with a distinctly personal touch. I invite you to come inside and explore everything we have to offer.
Begin in our newly renovated Center for Experiential Learning. We have modern, flexible space for small group or large, interprofessional learning. Interactive rooms are equipped with high definition projectors, video conferencing and digital recording capabilities, smartboards, and ample wireless accessibility. We’re bringing high-tech simulation into our classrooms and laboratories, and our faculty is implementing a fully electronic iPad curriculum.
Next, meet the real-life patients who trust us to provide the best possible care in settings like Strong Memorial Hospital. Its specialty programs consistently rank among U.S. News & World Report’s best; only about 3 percent of the 5,000 eligible hospitals receive even one ranking.
We’re also a biomedical research powerhouse in upstate New York, with nearly 500 faculty members involved in research, spread across approximately 40 departments and research centers. A key characteristic of our scientific environment is the size of the research enterprise: Small enough to be familiar and collaborative, yet diverse enough to create multidisciplinary teams to tackle complex problems.
Get to know our faculty, who are at the forefront of scientific discovery and medical innovation. A Rochester team helped to develop the world’s first vaccine against cancer, the HPV vaccine, which has led to dramatic reductions in the prevalence of cervical cancer. Rochester cardiologists revolutionized the treatment of heart disease worldwide by showing that an implantable cardiac defibrillator can significantly reduce death rates. Our neonatologists pioneered the use of lung surfactant to help premature infants breathe, dramatically improving survival rates worldwide. In our nearly 100 year history, five faculty or alumni have won a Nobel Prize.
The rest of the University of Rochester is well worth a visit too. Nestled along a picturesque bend in the Genesee River, the 154-acre River Campus offers 75 majors including business, education, engineering and public health. The Eastman School of Music, one of the nation’s best, sits on a lively corner in downtown Rochester.
It’s a mid-sized city overflowing with educational, entrepreneurial, cultural, recreational, and scenic opportunities. In 2012, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked Rochester among America’s 50 best cities. The Daily Beast listed it as one of the top 10 smartest cities in America in 2010. That same year, Forbes called it the nation’s 14th most innovative city.
Rochester boasts an international jazz festival, a world-renowned modern dance company, a thriving orchestra, several theaters, countless festivals and fairs, and the university’s own Memorial Art Gallery. The city’s public market won the 2010 America’s Favorite Farmers Market contest, sponsored by the American Farmland Trust. In addition to watching Rochester’s professional teams compete, local sport enthusiasts enjoy golfing, boating, sailing, bicycling, running, hiking, mountain biking, cross country and alpine skiing, snowshoeing, and many other activities, all year long. Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes, gorgeous public parks and trailways, and the Genesee River – with its impressive waterfalls—offer an open invitation to explore the natural world.
In the midst of all of this, the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry is doing what we have excelled at for nearly a century: preparing lifelong learners who will lead the way in global health care, research, and education for decades to come.
Mark. B. Taubman, M.D.
Dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry
Faculty@URMC
The Dean's newsletter Faculty@URMC contains news, information, and requests for faculty input from Dean Taubman and other URMC leaders. The latest issue and an archive of prior issues may be found at this link. (note: you must be on the URMC Intranet to view this link)