School of Medicine

History, Campus, and Student Opportunities

Boston University established the School of Medicine in 1873 by merging with the New England Female Medical College, founded in 1848, the first medical college for women in the world. In addition to the four-year MD program, the School of Medicine has a number of dual degree options and students may earn a combined MD-PhD, MD-MPH, or MD-MBA. The School’s Division of Graduate Medical Sciences offers both research and professional master’s and doctoral degrees.

The School of Medicine is located in Boston’s historic South End, adjacent to Boston Medical Center, its principal teaching hospital, on the Boston University Medical Campus, which also includes the Schools of Dental Medicine and Public Health, the Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center, and BioSquare, the University’s 16-acre biotechnology research park.

Students enjoy the dual advantages of comparatively small classes that afford opportunities for considerable personal contact with members of the faculty, and the benefits of study in an urban academic medical center with diverse settings for clinical instruction and externships in affiliated hospitals and community health centers.

The main instructional building sits at the center of the medical campus. The research enterprise includes more than 1,500 individual grants and contracts valued at approximately $364 million. School of Medicine faculty contribute to over 1,200 research grants valued at over $300 million. Boston Medical Center provides approximately 800,000 ambulatory patient visits, 131,000 Emergency Department visits, and over 30,000 hospital stays each year.

About 30 percent of the medical students participate in a variety of international health elective experiences that have expanded greatly as part of the University’s Global Health Initiative. In addition, more than half participate in research projects and electives.

Accreditation

Boston University School of Medicine is accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education of the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Council on Medical Education of the American Medical Association.

The School of Medicine’s continuing medical education programs are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education.

Residency programs at the School of Medicine are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education of the American Medical Association.

Boston University is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and is a member of the American Association of University Women, American Council on Education, Association of American Colleges, Association of Urban Universities, Council of Graduate Schools in the United States, EDUCOM Interuniversity Communications Council, Institute of International Education, and National Association of Schools and Colleges of the United Methodist Church.

For program information, please visit the Programs section.