Top Medical Centers in the Country

Hospitals, research centers, and medical schools – In our country, a medical center is a blend of all these three together in one place. Owned privately, or by the federal, state, county or city governments, medical centers can also be a union of non-profit entities and privately owned organizations. While some medical centers have medical schools functioning in the same physical campus, there are some others that are independent in location but are closely affiliated to medical colleges situated elsewhere. Some of the most prominent medical centers in the country are concentrated in the East, Mid-West and Western coast, with just a couple of good ones in Texas and Arizona. They are:

The National Institute of Health (NIH): Started in 1887 in a single room space, the NIH is one of the top and the largest medical research center in the world today. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NIH is made up of a group of 27 individual institutes and centers, each created for a specific agenda that focuses on a particular disease or body system. The National Institute of Health is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Johns Hopkins Medicine: Did you know that medical traditions/terms such as ‘rounds’ and ‘residents’, and many medical specialties such as neurosurgery, urology, endocrinology, pediatrics, cardiac surgery, and child psychiatry were first introduced in the John Hopkins Medical Center? Located in Baltimore, Maryland, this non-profit is an $8 billion integrated global health enterprise that is regarded as not just one of the greatest hospitals in the country but also in the world. Having won the U.S. News & World Reports award for the top ranking hospital for 22 out of 27 years of this survey, the fact that out of this, for 20 years the John Hopkins Hospital won it consecutively makes it an exceptional feat! No wonder that the hospital comes across a whopping 2.8 million outpatients every year. The John Hopkins Hospital is both a teaching hospital and biomedical research facility, and in addition to these, there is a major medical school too attached to this medical center.

Mayo Clinic: Famed for being the largest integrated medical center in the world, and based in Rochester, Minnesota, is another internationally recognized non-profit, the Mayo Clinic, that focuses on medical care, research and education at the same time. Started in 1864, in addition to its presence in Minnesota, there are clinical, research, and educational facilities of the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale and Phoenix, Arizona, and in Jacksonville, Florida too. Innovations including the G-Suit and high-altitude oxygen mask are credited to the Mayo Aero-Medical Unit’s participation in the II World War. There are 55,000 physicians, nurses, scientists, students and allied health staff attending to patients visiting the Mayo Clinic from all the 50 states and from 150 countries worldwide.

UCSF Medical Center: The fourfold mission of education, research, patient care, and public service drives the University of California San Francisco Medical Center to be a world-renowned teaching hospital and center of biomedical research. The discovery of oncogenes, the first in-utero fetal surgery and so many other quantum leaps in the medical field are credited to the UCSF Medical center. The University of California, Irvine, Berkeley, Davis, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Riverside, Santa Cruz, and Merced, together have 6 interdisciplinary centers and 28 independent departments with Anatomy, Urology, Anthropology, History and Social Medicine, Pathology, Pediatrics and Ophthalmology being just a few of them. Doubtlessly, the UCSF Medical Center has been ranked among the top 10 hospitals in the country for many years by the U.S.News & World Report.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital: Combining two medical centers, the Columbia University Medical Center and the Cornell University Weill Medical Center, the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is definitely the largest private employer in New York City with almost 20,000 full-time employees and more than 6,000 affiliated physicians. Regarded the best hospital in New York and New York City, the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital has leading specialists in almost every known field of medicine and is one of the most comprehensive university hospitals in the world.

Recognized nationally for their independent supremacy in clinical care, patient outcomes, and staff and physician satisfaction, there are a couple of more medical centers in the country such as the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, University of Pennsylvania Health System, Massachusetts General, Texas Medical Center, and Cleveland Clinic.