By A.J. Hostetler
U.S. News & World Report, which ranks Virginia Commonwealth University among the top 20% of all universities in the world for 2024-25, ranked VCU’s gastroenterology-hepatology program as 11th worldwide.
The new ranking, announced Tuesday, moved VCU’s program up six spots from the most recent ranking, produced in 2022. The program now ranks fourth in the nation and first in the South and Southeast.
“I am delighted to see our continued rise in rankings as a high-quality, academic gastroenterology-hepatology program,” Arun Sanyal, M.D., interim chief of the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, professor at the VCU School of Medicine and director of the Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health.
“This reflects the expertise and dedication of our faculty and staff, who make all of the science done in our program possible. I look forward to working with all of them to continue building our program and making it a top five program in the world,” Sanyal said.
To produce the subject-specific rankings, U.S. News uses a methodology based on academic research performance in each subject. These subject rankings are not of academic majors, departments or specific schools at a university, like a business or medical school. U.S. News uses various bibliometric measures, including publications and citations, as well as indicators for global and regional reputation in each specific subject area.
The university’s ranking, No. 401 among the world’s 2,250 top universities, is based on 13 indicators of excellence that measured schools’ academic research performance and global and regional reputations.
In addition, VCU’s surgery program tied for No. 82.
“These rankings in U.S. News & World Report tell the rest of the world what we at the School of Medicine, VCU Health and our many patients already know: Our unwavering commitment to innovation, advancement, training and compassionate clinical care across all disciplines is world-class – driving positive patient outcomes in our community that earn our institution a rightful place among the leaders in global health,” said Art Saavedra, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the School of Medicine and executive vice president for medical affairs at VCU Health.