About the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
What makes a great leader? How does leadership live in our own lives, and in our organizations and communities? Leadership expert Dr. Wiley "Chip" Souba, dean of the Geisel School of Medicine, discusses how the school prepares students to practice medicine and to be "leaders of change." For additional perspectives on leadership at Dartmouth, watch videos by Dr. Lisa Adams and medical student Jessica Linden Swienckowski.
The Audrey and Theodor Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, founded in 1797, strives to improve the lives of the people it serves: students, patients, and local and global communities. The School builds healthier communities through innovations in research, education, and patient care. As one of America's top medical schools, the Geisel School of Medicine is committed to creating new generations of diverse leaders who will help solve our most vexing challenges in healthcare.
Our Five Guiding Principles
Create Leaders and Leadership
Students and Faculty First
Revitalize Education and Research
Reach Out and Connect Diverse People
& Ideas
We Win Together as a Team
A History of Firsts
The Geisel School of Medicine—the fourth oldest medical school in the nation—has produced many firsts and advancements in education, research and medical practice, including:
- The first clinical X-ray in America
- The first multispecialty intensive care unit
- The first comprehensive examination of variations in health care costs in US medical practice (The Dartmouth Atlas)
- Discovery of the mechanism for how light resets biological clocks
- The groundbreaking national model, Supported Employment, which improves outcomes for those with serious mental illness
- The first Center for Health Care Delivery Science launched in 2010, as well as a new Master's in Health Care Delivery Science degree
- The first use of the stethoscope in medical education--introduced by the Geisel School poet-physician faculty member, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and
- The discovery of the role of lipid and polyanionic cofactors in prion diseases (neurodegenerative disorders that affect both humans and animals).
Leaders in education, research & health delivery
- 18 faculty elected as Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
- 14 faculty elected to membership in the prestigious Institute of Medicine.
- Two faculty who are members of the renowned National Academy of Sciences.
- Geisel School of Medicine research funding accounts for 60% of Dartmouth College's total research activity.
- Recognized excellence in research, including leadership in genetics, bioinformatics, population health, cancer, cystic fibrosis, neuroscience, psychiatry, and health care delivery science research, among others.
- Home of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, best known for its groundbreaking Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care which has revealed important disparities in health care delivery quality and costs.
- Creating national models for programs that greatly improve health for those living with mental illness.
- Transforming work in global health, including addressing medical and public health needs in Tanzania, and serving as one of a few select medical schools in the world chosen to help rebuild and re-design the systems for educating physicians and scientists in Kosovo and Rwanda.
- Home of the C. Everett Koop Institute, which promotes the health and well-being of all people.
By the Numbers:
Students: 395 medical students; and 293 masters and PhD students
Faculty: 2,098 clinical and research faculty
Alumni: 4,891 medical school alumni; and 2,980 residency alumni
MD student admissions acceptance rate: 6%
Faculty/student ratio: 2.4 faculty members for every one student
Research funding: $125 million (2012)