Chair's Check-In: UW Obstetrics and Gynecology is Ranked #9 in the Nation!
US News and World Report just released the 2023-24 Best Hospital guide and, once again, UW Obstetrics and Gynecology has achieved an exceptional ranking: this year, we are the #9 Ob-Gyn program in the nation! UW Ob-Gyn also earned High Performing scores for uterine cancer and ovarian cancer surgeries for the second year running.
This ranking is an acknowledgment of our national reputation for excellence in patient care; it helps people feel confident they can trust us with their health. Receiving this unprecedented ranking (the highest of any specialty in UW Health history) feels incredible. And to me, it is also a perfect encapsulation of our department’s vision: Unified in Leading Reproductive Health Forward.
While the US News and World Report best hospital lists recognizes clinical excellence, it reminds me that each pillar of our mission supports the others. Your tireless efforts to understand the foundations of pregnancy-related conditions, or reproductive cancers, or the individual and societal impacts of reproductive health policy, help pave the way to advances in clinical care. At the same time, our work in clinical spaces helps inform the leading-edge research happening in the department. Our close collaboration of research and clinical care has never been more important.
Our pillars of education and outreach ensure that our impact extends far beyond our health system, and even our state. Your dedication to training the next generation of ob-gyn professionals means that every year, we send a new class of physicians and reproductive health researchers out into the world equipped with the skills, knowledge, curiosity, and humility needed to provide high-quality care and advance our understanding of reproductive health. And each of your efforts in outreach – whether sharing your expertise in the media or on podcasts; serving on local, statewide, or regional reproductive health leadership organizations; or leading advocacy actions for health policy, research funding, and more – helps shape the future of clinical care, education, and research.
Since 2013, when UW Ob-Gyn first broke into the top 50 on the US News and World Report list, our department has been on an unstoppable upward trajectory. Today’s #9 rank is an exciting acknowledgment of our progress over the last decade and a reinforcement that, together, we are ready to lead reproductive health forward. Thank you to each and every person in the department who helped us earn this incredible honor.
With gratitude,
Ellen Hartenbach, MD
Chair and Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Ben Miller Peckham, MD, PhD, Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology