The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine has been ranked the 25th best medical school in the country at meeting its social mission, according to the first study of its kind published in the June 15 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

Researchers from George Washington University defined social mission in three ways: the percentage of graduates practicing primary care, the number of graduates from underrepresented minorities, and the number working in areas with a shortage of health professionals. They then developed a metric called the social mission score to evaluate institutions in the three areas.

Three historically black colleges and universities with medical schools—Morehouse College, Meharry Medical College, and Howard University—had the highest social mission rankings. The Miller School finished first among Florida medical schools.

“The Miller School of Medicine is committed to a strong social mission that informs everything we do in medical education,” said Pascal J. Goldschmidt, senior vice president for medical affairs and dean. “Our medical student body is one of the most diverse of any medical school in the country. And from day one, our students learn the importance of taking care of the underserved, while being encouraged to pursue a career in primary care.”

The study looked at more than 60,000 physicians in active practice who graduated from one of 141 allopathic and osteopathic medical schools in the United States between 1999 and 2001. The researchers used data from the 2008 American Medical Association Physician Masterfile to calculate the percentage of graduates practicing primary care and located in areas with a shortage of health professionals.

The researchers wrote that “medical schools in the United States serve many functions, but one of their most basic purposes is to educate physicians to care for the national population.” The authors said institutions are falling short because of an insufficient number of primary care physicians, uneven geographic distribution of physicians, and low numbers of racial and ethnic minorities in medical schools and in practice.

The authors concluded that all medical schools “examine their educational commitment regarding the service needs of their states and the nation. A diverse, equitably distributed physician workforce with a strong primary care base is essential to achieve quality health care that is accessible and affordable, regardless of the nature of any future health care reform.”