Healthcare Insights

Top 10 medical schools attended by North Carolina doctors

Have you considered how proximity to medical schools can impact a state’s physician population?  We used Definitive Healthcare data to examine the medical schools attended by North Carolina doctors. 

What medical schools are in North Carolina?

North Carolina is fortunate to be the home state of multiple highly-ranked medical schools, including:

  • Duke University School of Medicine
  • University of North Carolina School of Medicine
  • Wake Forest University School of Medicine
  • East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine
  • Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine

Do these in-state medical schools provide a high share of the doctors in North Carolina? The PhysicianView product from Definitive Healthcare helped us uncover which medical schools produce the highest share of physicians in North Carolina.

Top medical schools attended by North Carolina doctors

Rank Medical school name Location Share of NC doctors Explore dataset
University of North Carolina School of Medicine Chapel Hill, NC 12.05% Explore
Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University Greenville, NC 5.13% Explore
Wake Forest University School of Medicine (Bowman Gray) Winston-Salem, NC 4.58% Explore
Duke University School of Medicine Durham, NC 4.13% Explore
Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine Charleston, SC 2.54% Explore
University of Virginia School of Medicine Charlottesville, VA 2.16% Explore
University of South Carolina School of Medicine Columbia, SC 1.73% Explore
Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine  Augusta, GA 1.61% Explore
Ohio State University College of Medicine Columbus, OH 1.42% Explore
10 (tie) University of Florida College of Medicine Gainesville, FL 1.30% Explore
10 (tie) West Virginia University School of Medicine Morgantown, WV 1.30% Explore

Fig. 1 Data is from Definitive Healthcare’s PhysicianView product. Data compiled in December 2022.

Which medical school did most North Carolina physicians attend?

According to Definitive Healthcare data, The University of North Carolina School of Medicine has the highest percentage of doctors in North Carolina with a 12.05% share.  UNC has the highest medical school enrollment of the medical schools based in North Carolina, so it’s no surprise their share of doctors is over two times the share of the second medical school – Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, which has a 5.13% share.

As you would expect, in-state medical schools also rank #2 through #4 in the top medical schools attended by North Carolina doctors.

Proximity to North Carolina plays a major role in the list.  Every medical school in the Top 10 list is based in the Southeastern United States except for the Ohio State University College of Medicine.

Medical school affiliations with leading academic medical centers

In addition to training physicians to serve the state’s population, North Carolina residents can access advanced clinical care at the academic medical centers affiliated with each medical school. The academic medical centers affiliated with the North Carolina medical schools are ranked among the best hospitals in North Carolina. Access to this level of medical expertise is critical to improving the health of the state’s population.

Learn more

Healthcare Insights are developed with healthcare commercial intelligence from the Definitive Healthcare platform. Want even more insights? Start a free trial now and get access to the latest healthcare commercial intelligence on hospitals, physicians and other healthcare providers.