The Uniformed Services University

Established by Congress in 1972, and graduating its first class in 1980, the University is the nation’s fully accredited federal school of medicine and graduate school of nursing. Its education, research and consultation programs are unique, relating directly to military medicine, tropical diseases, disaster medicine, military medical readiness and adaptation to extreme environments.

The F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, in the top 25 percent (class size) of accredited American medical schools, has a year-round, four-year curriculum. This curriculum is nearly 700 hours—or about 20 weeks—longer than found at other U.S. medical schools. In these extra hours, students focus on epidemiology, health promotion, disease prevention, tropical medicine, leadership, field exercises, and other subjects that relate to the unique requirements of career-oriented military physicians.

USU offers 14 graduate degrees in the biomedical sciences and public health. Doctor of Philosophy degrees are offered in nine areas that range from clinical psychology to emerging infectious diseases. The University also offers a Doctor of Public Health degree, and has a new physician-scientist (M.D./Ph.D.) program. The University’s continuing education program is unique and extensive, serving and sustaining the professional and readiness requirements of the Defense Department’s worldwide military health care community through on-site and distance education.

The fully accredited Graduate School of Nursing offers a Master of Science in Nursing degree in the following specialty areas: Nurse Anesthesia, Family Nurse Practitioner and Perioperative Nursing (Clinical Nurse Specialist). In 2003, the school was expanded to include a Ph.D. program in nursing science.

The benefits of this research to our battlefield wounded are numerous. Medical research performed at the University and throughout the military medical community will ultimately benefit, and is now benefiting, our civilian communities as well.

Medical Research

The University’s nationally ranked military and civilian faculty provide cutting-edge research and developments in the biomedical sciences, and in the areas specific to the DoD health care mission such as combat casualty care and infectious diseases. This work is accomplished in cooperation with The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., National Institutes of Health, the military services, and other government and private institutions, The University also holds more than 65 U.S. patents and additional foreign patents.

A Unique Medical Education

The University specializes in military medical education, which is more than practicing medicine in the military and differs significantly from civilian medicine. Military medicine requires a solid background in tropical medicine and hygiene, parasitology and a full understanding of epidemiologic methods and preventive medicine. Knowledge in areas of military intelligence, the psychological stresses of combat and trauma, and the medical effects of extreme environments whether in aerospace, under sea, tropics or desert conditions are essential to properly advising a military commander on how to best keep troops fit. Also critical to a military physician’s focus is disease prevention and health promotion in a wide variety of venues. USU provides a unique education. Simply put, the University helps students learn how to care for those in harm’s way.

For more information about the Uniformed Services University, visit their website.