UC Riverside’s School of Medicine ranked No. 5 for diversity in U.S. News & World Report’s 2023-2024 Best Grad School rankings released Thursday, May 11. Among public schools, the medical school ranked No. 4 for diversity.

This is the third year the magazine has published its list of Most Diverse Medical Schools. Designed for prospective students looking to further their education beyond college, the Best Graduate Schools rankings evaluate programs in a variety of disciplines, including business, education, engineering, law, medicine, and nursing.

“As we celebrate our 10th anniversary this year, it feels great to be nationally recognized as one of the best medical schools for diversity by U.S. News & World Report,” said Dr. Deborah Deas, vice chancellor of health sciences and the Mark and Pam Rubin Dean of the UCR School of Medicine. “We take great pride in our mission to train a diverse physician workforce throughout Inland Southern California.”

Per fall 2022 enrollment figures, the School of Medicine had a student population of nearly 37% from underrepresented minority communities. The school’s diversity ranking validates its many signature diversity efforts, including the Health Equity, Social Justice, and Anti-Racism (HESJAR) curriculum thread, the Designated Emphasis in Medical Spanish (HABLAMos) program, and the Program in Medical Education (PRIME), which is designed to address the needs of African, Black, and Caribbean communities in the Inland Empire.

The medical school remains committed to training a diverse physician workforce, creating pathway programs from schools and community colleges, and recruiting students from underserved areas and varied backgrounds. Opened in 2013, the community-based medical school also offers a doctoral and master's program in biomedical sciences and sponsors several residency training and fellowship programs, including those in the medical specialties of family medicine, internal medicine, psychiatry, cardiovascular medicine, gastroenterology, and critical care.

On this year’s diversity index, the medical school tied for fifth place with the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine and the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine. Last year, the UCR medical school ranked No. 11 (tie) for diversity.

In other U.S. News & World Report rankings announced a few days ago, UCR’s Earth Sciences program ranked No. 39 out of 156 universities; the physics program, tied for No. 55 among 186 U.S. universities ranked; statistics, tied for No. 44; chemistry, tied for No. 74 among 206; and math, tied for No. 66 among 185.

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