The Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine at Campbell University ranks among the best in the nation for “Medical Schools With the Most Graduates Practicing in Rural Areas,” according to U.S. News & World Report rankings of top medical schools, released April 8.
Campbell for 2025 was ranked ninth.
Campbell also ranks 19th for “Most Graduates Practicing in Primary Care” (36 percent) and is tied for 20th for “Most Graduates Practicing in Health Professional Shortage Areas” (58 percent). Schools were assessed on their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence, U.S. News says.
Serving rural communities in North Carolina with the goal of keeping physicians in those communities is a primary goal of Campbell, which boasts the only osteopathic medical school in North Carolina.
“This recognition speaks directly to who we are and why we exist,” said Dr. Brian Kessler, medical school dean. “At Campbell, we focus on preparing physicians who are committed to serving where they are most needed. I am proud that so many of our graduates choose to practice in rural and underserved communities, it reflects both their character and the mission that guides our school every day.
On Match Day in March, all of Campbell’s 154 graduating medical students learned they were placed in a residency program. Fifty student doctors will serve their residencies in North Carolina, and 99 will serve in the Southeast (64 percent), as well as 14 in Florida and South Carolina, respectively. In all, Campbell grads will practice in 27 states.
Thirty-two of the graduating students will specialize in family medicine and 29 in internal medicine. Other residency disciplines among the students include, for example, pediatrics (17) and emergency medicine (23).
Nationwide, the percentage of DO seniors matching rose to 92.6 percent, a record high during the single match era, according to the National Resident Matching Program. In addition, the number of U.S. DO seniors participating was a record-high 8,392, an increase of 4.5 percent from 2024.
U.S. News in fall 2024 and early 2025 says it surveyed 197 medical and osteopathic schools fully accredited in 2025 by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education for the American Osteopathic Association. This data — and sometimes third-party statistics — was used to calculate the tiers and the primary care practice rankings, as well as to populate each medical school’s profile in the usnews.com directory, U.S. News says. There were 105 medical and osteopathic schools with eligible data for the research rankings, and 99 schools for the primary care rankings.