UC Davis named nation's top veterinary program

The School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis, claimed the top spot in the 2016 U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools list.

A UC Davis veterinary oral surgeon removes a mountain lion's damaged tooth at the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.The program's 4.5 out of 5 score edged out 25 other schools based on a survey of peer institutions, according to the U.S. News & World Report website.

“Our ultimate measures of success are the quality of the students we graduate and the lives improved by our research, but it is always encouraging to see a broad range of our graduate programs recognized as among the best in the nation,” Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi says in a university press release.

UC Davis placed second in the previous U.S. News ranking of veterinary schools in 2011. The program, which cares for more than 48,000 patients every year, is educating more than 500 students and residents. It operates a teaching hospital and satellite clinics in San Diego and Tulare in San Joaquin Valley. The school's recent $100 million grant for its One Health initiatives will help monitor microbes that cause disease, identify new viruses and improve global health capacity across the world, according to the university release.

Here's the list of top 10 veterinary schools, according to the report:

1. University of California, Davis | Davis, California

2. Cornell University | Ithaca, New York

3. (Tie) Colorado State University | Fort Collins, Colorado 

            North Carolina State University | Raleigh, North Carolina

5. (Tie) Ohio State University | Columbus, Ohio

            University of Wisconsin – Madison  | Madison, Wisconsin

7. (Tie) Texas A&M-College Station | College Station, Texas

             University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

9. University of Minnesota – Twin Cities | St. Paul, Minnesota

10. (Tie) Tufts University  | North Grafton, Massachusetts

              University of Georgia | Athens, Georgia