Stanford Ranks Second in Magazine's List of Top Medical Schools for Hispanics

STANFORD, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
The Stanford University School of Medicine is second on the annual
top 10 list of best medical schools for Hispanic students in rankings
compiled by Hispanic Business magazine.

This is the fourth year in a row that Stanford has ranked either
first or second since the magazine began including medical schools
among its university rankings in 2005. The 2008 list is published in
the September issue of the magazine.

"Stanford had very high marks in all categories, from reputation
to retention to enrollment and faculty," said Michael Caplinger,
research supervisor for the company that publishes the magazine. "The
school not only already has a good representation of Hispanic
students, it is making an effort to keep them and attract more."

Stanford has a 40-year history of working toward achieving and
maintaining diversity, said Fernando Mendoza, MD, professor and chief
of the division of general pediatrics and associate dean of minority
advising and programs.

"Recognition of success in the area of diversity by Hispanic
Business magazine is important to the school," Mendoza said. "It
demonstrates that, as judged by others, we are succeeding."

Hispanic Business publishes top 10 listings of "Best Schools for
Hispanics" at universities across the nation in the fields of
business, engineering, law and medicine. The rankings take into
account each school's Hispanic enrollment figures, number of Hispanic
faculty, student services and retention rates. The University of Texas
Southwestern Medical School at Dallas topped the list among medical
schools this year.

The Stanford School of Medicine's Hispanic student population has
consistently been about 15 percent since the rankings began in 2005.
During the 2007 academic year, 15 percent of the school's student body
was Hispanic, 69 out of a total of 472 students. This year, nine of
the entering new medical students are Hispanic out of a class of 86.

"Those of us recruiting medical students in California are still
way behind in the number of Hispanic medical students needed to
reflect statewide percentages," Mendoza said. California's Hispanic
population is the largest of any state in the nation, about 36 percent
of the total state population.

"California is a place of great diversity," Mendoza said. "If
we're going to provide efficient, effective care, we have to have a
diverse medical school class. We have to be more culturally sensitive
and aware in California."

The medical school launched a concerted effort to increase
diversity in 1969, Mendoza said. In 1992, these efforts were further
institutionalized with the creation of the Center of Excellence in
Diversity, which developed programs for the recruitment, retention and
career and leadership development of minority faculty. In 2005, the
school created the Office for Diversity and Leadership to further
advance these efforts.

Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical
education and patient care at its three institutions -- Stanford
University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile
Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. For more information, please
visit the Web site of the medical center's Office of Communication &
Public Affairs at http://mednews.stanford.edu.

Stanford University Medical Center
Tracie White, 650-723-7628 (Print Media)
traciew@stanford.edu
Margarita Gallardo, 650-723-7897
mjgallardo@stanford.edu (Broadcast Media)

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