West Virginia University’s School of Medicine is one of the top schools in the country for rural medicine, according to U.S.News&World Report.

The program is ranked in a three-way tie for 12 th among the 145 schools listed in the magazine’s 2007 edition ofAmerica’s Best Graduate Schools.This was the highest ranking achieved by any medical school in the state in the guide.

We are pleased with this recognition,said Dr. John E. Prescott, dean of the WVU School of Medicine.WVU’s long-term commitment to serve the rural communities of West Virginia is well-known. This effort runs throughout all our programsnot just medical education.

Our involvement with rural people and their health care providers includes programs to encourage rural youth to excel in health careers, involvement of our students with rural medicine throughout their educations, prevention programs that address rural concerns, ongoing support for doctors and other professionals who work in rural hospitals and clinics, and research to advance health care delivery,Prescott added.

The rural medicine ranking is based solely on peer assessment surveys sent to deans, other administrators or faculty in the discipline.

U.S. News began it annual rankings of American colleges and universities in 1983. The fall of 1987 marked the first publication of the newsstand book,America’s Best Colleges.It was joined byAmerica’s Best Graduate Schoolsin 1994.

A complete list of the rankings is available on the Web atwww.usnews.com. Some of the ranking categories will also appear in the April 10 edition of U.S.News&World Report magazine.