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June 26, 2014

Pitt’s medical school by the numbers

Comparing the medical school’s finances during his tenure, Arthur S. Levine, senior vice chancellor for the Health Sciences and the John and Gertrude Petersen Dean of Medicine, noted that operating revenues have tripled to $2.132 billion in 2014, up from $702 million in 1998. Endowment funds and restricted accounts have doubled, rising to $1.098 billion from $525 million.

Research revenues have more than tripled, rising to $658 million from $210 million and NIH awards have more than doubled, rising to $431 million from $185 million.

In addition the number of faculty has risen to 2,363 in 2014, up from 1,375 in 1998, with the medical school student body increasing to 899, up from 725 during that same period.

Levine reported that the school’s endowment (not counting quasi-endowments and restricted funds) was valued at about $838 million as of Dec. 31, 2013, and stands at about $900 million now.

Of those funds, 52 percent is for endowed chairs; 30 percent is for general operations; 15 percent is for academic departments, centers and institutes, and 3 percent is for financial aid, Levine said.

Faculty facts

Pitt’s medical school has 2,234 full-time faculty, with teaching compensation totaling $18.5 million. “That is roughly comparable to the amount of tuition we receive from the students,” Levine said.

The University’s medical school faculty have distinguished themselves, Levine noted.

The school boasts a National Medal of Science winner in Thomas E. Starzl; four Lasker Award winners; six National Academy of Sciences electees and 25 Institute of Medicine members.

Fifty-seven Pitt medical school faculty are members of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, or “Young Turks,” with 10.5 percent of the group’s 2014 inductees coming from Pitt’s faculty. In addition, 24 Pitt faculty have been named to the Association of American Physicians, or “Old Turks,” Levine said.

“The school is not only excelling with respect to its students but to its faculty as well,” Levine said.

Nearly 100 Pitt faculty have been selected, by peer review, for the school’s Academy of Master Educators, Levine said. “They are the very soul of the institution with respect to their commitment to education, their zeal for doing so and their ability in doing so.”

Curriculum changes

The medical school’s integrated preclinical curriculum has been redesigned and the clinical skills curriculum reformed over the past three years, said Levine, adding that more changes are on the horizon. “The curricula in this country are evolving at a rapid rate. So at our next curriculum colloquium in the fall I think we will be looking at what some of our competitors are doing and probably tweak the curriculum again,” he said.

“It is not fossilized; there is an ongoing biology to medical school curricula and we will act accordingly,” said Levine.

—Kimberly K. Barlow