University of Massachusetts Medical School

An Introduction to UMass Medical School

Welcome to the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS), the commonwealth’s first and only public academic health sciences center.

Our mission is to advance the health and well-being of the people of the commonwealth and the world through pioneering education, research and health care delivery with clinical partner UMass Memorial Health Care, the largest health care provider in Central Massachusetts.

• UMMS was founded in 1962 to provide affordable, high-quality medical education to state residents and to increase the number of primary care physicians practicing in underserved areas of the state.
• Consistently ranked by U.S.News & World Report as one of the leading medical schools in the nation for primary care education.
• Federal and private research grants and contracts exceeding $240 million in fiscal year 2013.
• Enhancing health and science education, ensuring community health, building a diverse workforce and enriching lives through extensive community outreach.
• Located in Worcester, Massachusetts, one of five University of Massachusetts campuses.

The three UMMS graduate schools are the School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the Graduate School of Nursing.

• The School of Medicine is committed to training in the full range of medical disciplines, with an emphasis on practice in the primary care specialties, in the public sector and in underserved areas of Massachusetts.
• Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences students receive a broad background in the basic medical sciences and are trained in their selected specialty area in preparation for research with direct relevance to human disease.
• The Graduate School of Nursing offers master’s, post-master’s and doctoral degrees, providing high quality education to prepare registered professional and advanced practice nurses within nurse practitioner and nurse educator specialties and for faculty, research and other nursing leadership positions.

UMMS is a world-class research institution, consistently producing noteworthy advances in clinical and basic research.

• In 2006 the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to UMMS professor Craig C. Mello, PhD, and his colleague Andrew Fire, PhD, of Stanford University, for their discoveries related to RNA interference (RNAi), a cellular process that offers astounding potential for understanding and, ultimately treating, human disease.
• Our research programs are central to the Massachusetts Life Sciences Initiative, with major funding from the $1 billion Massachusetts Life Sciences Bill signed into law in 2008.
• Our researchers have made pivotal advances in HIV, cancer, diabetes, infectious disease, and in understanding the molecular basis of disease.
• Programs and centers include the RNA Therapeutics Institute, the Gene Therapy Center, Program in Gene Function and Expression, Systems Biology and Neurotherapeutics.

We invite you to learn more about why UMass Medical School is a great place to work and study.