Facts, Figures, Accolades, and Accomplishments >>

Serving more than five million people as the only academic medical center in South Florida, the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine has earned international acclaim for research, clinical care, and biomedical innovations. Founded in 1952 as Florida’s first accredited medical school, the University of Miami provides the medical staff for the nationally renowned University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center.

In 2006, U.S. News & World Report listed Bascom Palmer Eye Institute as the number one hospital in the country for ophthalmology for the third year in a row. Five other UM Miller School of Medicine specialties were also listed among the nation’s best: ear, nose and throat; digestive disorders; neurology and neurosurgery; kidney disease; and urology.

Each year the medical school’s 800 faculty physicians have more than a million patient encounters, in primary care and more than 30 specialties. In addition to Jackson, UM clinical facilities are located at the Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center, five primary care centers throughout Miami-Dade County, and a half-dozen area hospitals. The School of Medicine has more than 7,000 employees.

Research is a top priority, with more than 1,300 ongoing projects funded by more than $180 million in external grants and contracts to UM faculty. The school ranks in the top third among U.S. medical schools in terms of research funding awarded. The School of Medicine campus consists of 35 acres within the 80-acre complex of the UM/ Jackson Memorial Medical Center, including more than 2 million square feet of research space, and is the home of the following acclaimed medical facilities:

• Bascom Palmer Eye Institute is the top facility in the country for ophthalmic clinical care and research. The Anne Bates Leach Eye Hospital annually serves 160,000 outpatients of ophthalmology and other specialties, largely for microsurgery procedures.

• For its pioneering work in islet cell transplantation, the Diabetes Research Institute joined the National Institutes of Health and the Naval Medical Research Center as the only academic partner in the national initiative to cure diabetes through transplantation.
• The Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center treats 3,000 newly-diagnosed cancer patients each year, and treats thousands more in ongoing treatment from throughout the United States and Latin America. Approximately 200 clinical trials are under way, supported by more than $31 million in research grants.
• Dedicated to finding a cure for paralysis resulting from spinal cord injury, researchers at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis found the first direct evidence of successful regeneration of adult human central nervous system tissue. The Miami Project conducts basic and clinical research trials, as well as a program that permits spinal cord injured men to father children.
• The University of Miami Ear Institute houses the nation’s second most active cochlear implant program, restoring hearing to adults and children with profound deafness.
• The nationally renowned research efforts of the Department of Pediatrics are housed in the magnificent Batchelor Children’s Research Institute. The School of Medicine’s Mailman Center for Child Development has a number of model programs that help children with developmental disabilities.
• The UM/Jackson Transplant Program is one of the nation’s best and busiest, responsible for half of the pediatric multivisceral transplants in the world. UM/ Jackson has an active transplant program for bone marrow, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, pancreas and intestines.
• Significant federal funds support research at the Comprehensive AIDS Program, including HIV studies in pregnant women, pediatric AIDS clinical trials, various drug protocol studies, heterosexual transmission of AIDS, transfusion safety studies, and the national cooperative drug discovery group.
• The Center on Aging, dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for older people, conducts significant research on geriatric issues.