Mission Statement

The University of Utah School of Medicine has three major missions: education, research, and clinical service. The three missions are closely interrelated. Each supports and, in turn, benefits from the others. All are considered to be of equal importance.

Education

The University of Utah School of Medicine is responsible for the predoctoral, graduate, and continuing education of physicians; the graduate and postdoctoral education of biomedical scientists; and the training of certain other health professionals. In determining the size and types of its educational programs, the school is guided primarily by the needs of the State of Utah. The school is also guided by the imperatives of affirmative action and by the needs of the surrounding states which lack their own medical schools. In addition, the school emphasizes high quality programs that address national priorities, such as the need for generalist and academic physicians, rural practitioners, basic biomedical scientists, and selected medical subspecialists.

Research

The University of Utah School of Medicine promotes research of such quality and quantity as to ensure national recognition of a scientifically excellent institution. Each department is expected to expand the frontiers of the discipline it represents. Active pursuit of peer-reviewed funding is encouraged. Research is conducted ethically according to established guidelines for the welfare of human volunteers and experimental animals. The school encourages active collaboration across university boundaries and fosters the development of young scientists. Investigators are encouraged to report their work in journals with high editorial standards or to respected scientific societies.

Clinical Service

The University of Utah School of Medicine is committed to providing state-of-the-art clinical care to the patients it serves. The institution provides advanced and innovative medical procedures and practices to patients in this region. Faculty physicians are expected to provide effective role models for clinicians in training. This responsibility implies efficiency, humanity, cost-effectiveness, and scientific excellence. The school also provides model practice settings for training in primary care. Innovation and leadership are expected in the development of alternative systems of health care delivery, with a volume of clinical activity sufficient to sustain University Hospital teaching and research missions.