Ross University - School of Medicine

School of Medicine

The university's medical school, the Ross University School of Medicine (RUSM), was founded in 1978 by Robert Ross. It is located in Portsmouth on the Caribbean island of Dominica. The university confers upon its graduates the Doctor of Medicine degree.

The first four semesters comprise the Basic Sciences portion of the curriculum and are taught in Dominica over a 16-month period. The fifth semester is termed Advanced Introduction to Clinical Medicine (AICM) and is offered in Miami, Florida and Saginaw, Michigan as well as in Dominica. The sixth through tenth semesters, which cover the clinical sciences, students move on to study at the University's affiliated hospitals in the United States. The university requires 90 weeks of clinical rotations consisting of the 12 weeks of AICM, 48 weeks of core rotations (12 weeks of Surgery; 12 weeks of Internal Medicine; 6 weeks each of Family Medicine, Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Obstetrics and Gynecology) and 30 weeks of elective rotations.

Ross University has a 93% first-time pass rate on the United States Medical Licensing Examination . Ross alumni are eligible to and practice in all 50 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and Canada. While the majority of Ross graduates enter residencies in Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, and General surgery, some graduates obtain positions in historically competitive residency programs including Orthopedic Surgery, Neurosurgery, and Radiology. However, only about 80% of Ross graduates obtain residencies through the National Residency Match Program (NRMP). The vast majority of others obtain positions with programs directly.

The School of Medicine is accredited by the Dominica Medical Board. The U.S. Department of Education has found the accreditation standards used by the Dominica Medical Board to be comparable to those used by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education to evaluate accredited U.S. medical schools. Four states in the United States (California, Florida, New Jersey, New York) have a formal process to evaluate, accredit, and approve an international medical school's academic program for the purpose of either licensing its graduates and/or clinical and residency training in those states. Ross University is one of only a few international medical schools that has received state approvals from all four. Additionally, Ross' medical program is one of only six that was both assessed and accredited by Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and other Health Professions.

As of June 2010, over 7,500 doctors had graduated from the school of medicine. Daniel Taramasco, M.D. represented the 7,500th graduate at the June 4, 2010 commencement ceremony at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.