Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
(CAMDEN, NJ) – Cooper University Health Care’s affiliated medical school, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU), has been ranked No. 1 in New Jersey and No. 50 nationally by U.S. News & World Report in the 2023-2024 Best Medical Schools: Primary Care rankings. Cooper’s physicians serve as clinical faculty for CMSRU.
Designed for prospective students looking to further their education beyond college, the Best Medical Schools: Primary Care review is part of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Schools rankings, which evaluate programs in a variety of disciplines, including business, education, engineering, law, medicine, and nursing.
“As one of the newest medical schools in the nation, winning recognition as the top medical school in New Jersey and among the top 50 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report is quite an achievement,” said George E. Norcross III, chairman of the Cooper University Health Care Board of Trustees. “One of Cooper’s hallmarks has been its commitment to the future of its community as it improves access to care. There’s no greater way to do both of those things than training the next generation of doctors and health care providers.”
Since its first commencement in 2016, CMSRU has graduated more than 625 physicians, all with a commitment to practicing confidently and compassionately, and with a drive to effect change in their communities. CMSRU has been listed among the “Top 10 Most Competitive” medical schools for admission in U.S. News & World Report and was the recipient of the 2019 Spencer Foreman Award for Outstanding Community Engagement, one of the most prestigious awards presented by the Association of American Medical Colleges. CMSRU earned full accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) in June 2016 and received full re-accreditation for the maximum eight years in November 2021.
“Since 2016, CMSRU has become an elite medical school in the state and the nation in just a few short years. Congratulations to our colleagues at CMSRU for achieving this prestigious ranking from U.S. News & World Report, particularly with its focus on primary care,” said Anthony J. Mazzarelli, MD, JD, MBE, co-CEO of Cooper, who also serves as associate dean for clinical affairs and associate professor of emergency medicine at the medical school.
According to the American Medical Association, the United States will face a shortage of between 17,800 and 48,000 primary care physicians by 2034. Cooper University Health Care has addressed the need for high-quality primary care by expanding its internal medicine, family medicine, and Cooper Care Alliance networks of physicians and advanced practice providers throughout South Jersey.
“We are encouraged that more medical students are pursuing primary care for their residency training. Through their efforts, the CMSRU team is doing their part to address the need for primary care physicians here in New Jersey,” Dr. Mazzarelli said.
“Congratulations to the many Cooper and Rowan team members who have worked tirelessly over the last decade to make Cooper Medical School of Rowan University one of the top-rated medical schools in the United States,” said Kevin O’Dowd, co-CEO of Cooper. “We are very proud of this national recognition.”
By collecting graduate school data annually, U.S. News is able to present the most current figures on enrollment, job placement, faculty, and other critical quality indicators that help prospective students make informed decisions.
“When prospective students are considering their options for graduate school, the Best Graduate Schools rankings are designed to help them identify schools that excel in the program they want to study,” said LaMont Jones, senior editor of Education at U.S. News. “With many options available, U.S. News provides a wealth of data in an easy format to help each student make the best decision.”
Prospective students can see how CMSRU compares to other institutions and how the rankings are calculated on USNews.com.
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About Cooper University Health Care
Cooper University Health Care, with its MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper and affiliation with Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, is a leading academic health system. Cooper has more than 9,500 employees including 1,600 nurses, and more than 850 employed physicians and 450 advanced practice providers. Cooper University Hospital has been recognized as a top-performing regional hospital by U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-2023 Best Hospitals annual survey and has an “A” Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit upholding the standard of patient safety in hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers.
Cooper has revenues of more than $2 billion and has an “A-“ rating from S&P Global Ratings and “A3” rating from Moody’s Investors Service. Cooper University Hospital is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in South Jersey and the busiest in the region. Nearly two million patients are served annually at Cooper’s 635-bed flagship hospital, outpatient surgery center, three urgent care centers, and more than 100 ambulatory offices throughout the community. Cooper has been named as one of America’s Best Employers by Forbes for two consecutive years.
The Cooper Health Sciences campus in Camden, New Jersey, is home to Cooper University Hospital, MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper, Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper, and Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. Visit CooperHealth.org to learn more.
About U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is the global leader in quality rankings that empower consumers, business leaders and policy officials to make better, more informed decisions about important issues affecting their lives and communities. A multifaceted digital media company with Education, Health, Money, Travel, Cars, News, Real Estate and 360 Reviews platforms, U.S. News provides rankings, independent reporting, data journalism, consumer advice and U.S. News Live events. More than 40 million people visit USNews.com each month for research and guidance. Founded in 1933, U.S. News is headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Graduating from medical school provides a pathway to many different careers in medicine. To help prospective students determine their best options, U.S. News produced two distinct rankings: Best Medical Schools: Research and Best Medical Schools: Primary Care. Both evaluate schools on faculty resources, the academic achievements of entering students and qualitative assessments by schools and residency directors. But most significantly, the research rankings also include four heavily factored measures of research productivity, while the primary care rankings incorporate two heavily factored metrics for graduates going into primary care. As education costs continue to soar, students and their families are placing more emphasis on the results that education can bring. Altogether, this newest edition features an increased emphasis on these faculty productivity and outcome measures and a reduced emphasis on reputation. In addition, a relatively recent incorporation of data sourced from the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) is an important outcome measure that had not existed for most of the ranking’s history.