Awards & Honors

UW Medical Center: 

• No. 1 in Seattle Metro Area and in Washington (since 2012) 
• No.11 nationally in rehabilitation 
• No. 43 nationally in cancer care with Fred Hutch Cancer Center  

Rated high performing in six specialties: diabetes and endocrinology; gastroenterology and GI surgery, geriatrics, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics and urology.

Rated high performing 15 common adult procedures and conditions: acute kidney failure, aortic valve surgery; back surgery (spinal fusion); colon cancer surgery; diabetes; gynecological cancer surgery; heart attack; heart failure; hip replacement; kidney failure; knee replacement; leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma; lung cancer surgery; pneumonia; prostate cancer surgery; and stroke.

UW Medical Center also earned the highest possible rating, “High Performing”, for Maternity Care (uncomplicated pregnancy) by U.S. News & World Report for 2023-2024.

Harborview Medical Center:

Harborview is also rated high performing in 3 common adult procedures and conditions: abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, hip fracture and stroke. 

• American Association of Critical Care Nurses: Beacon Award for Excellence in Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Trauma Surgical ICU and Burn ICU
• American Heart Association: “Get With The Guidelines” Stroke Gold Plus Award/Target Stroke Elite Plus
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Healthcare-Associated Venous Thromboembolism Prevention Champion
• Healthgrades: Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence (2018)
• Human Rights Campaign: National Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality (since 2011)
• LifeCenter Northwest: Donation Referral Achievement Award
• Practice Greenhealth: Top 25 Environmental Excellence Award
• Qualis Health Award of Excellence in Healthcare Quality: Improving Diabetes Self-Management with Limited-English-Proficient Patients Using Bilingual/Bicultural Diabetes Navigators
• SightLife: Vision Award in recognition of exceptional results in cornea donation
• Washington State Department of Health: Antimicrobial Stewardship Honor Roll

• American Nurses Credentialing Center: Magnet Recognition for quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovations in professional nursing practice (first in world in 1994)
• Baby-Friendly USA: Baby-friendly designation for maternity care (since 2009; re-designation in 2019 for five years)
• Becker's Hospital Review: 100 Great Hospitals in America (since 2015)
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services – Overall Hospital Quality Rating: four stars
• Healthgrades: America's 100 Best Hospitals Awards for General Surgery (since 2018), Gastrointestinal Care (since 2018), and Prostate Surgery (since 2010); Outstanding Patient Experience Award (since 2015)
• Human Rights Campaign: National Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality (since 2011)
• Joint Commission: Certification for Advanced Palliative Care
• Leapfrog Group: "A for Hospital Safety (since Spring 2020)
• Practice Greenhealth: Top 25 Environmental Excellence Award (13th consecutive year), Health Food Circle of Excellence (2019), The Leadership Circle (2019), and Greening the OR Recognition Award (2019)
• Surgical Review Corporation: Center of Excellence in Robotic Surgery (2019)
• Washington State Department of Health and Washington State Hospital Association: Breastfeeding Friendly Washington Hospital — Gold Level
• Washington State Department of Health: Antimicrobial Stewardship Honor Roll
• Women's Choice Award: 2019 Best Hospitals for Bariatric Care, Obstetrics, Patient Experience, Patient Safety, Stroke Care

• American Heart Association: “Get With The Guidelines” Stroke Gold Plus Award/Target Stroke Elite Plus
• Baby-Friendly USA: Baby-friendly designation for maternity care
• Healthgrades: America's 100 Best Hospitals for Stroke Care Award; Five Star Rated – Stroke Care; Patient Safety Excellence Award; Pulmonary Care Excellence Award; Stroke Care Excellence Award
• Human Rights Campaign: National Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality (since 2013)
• Joint Commission: Primary Stroke Center and Gold Seal
• Washington State Department of Health: Antimicrobial Stewardship Honor Roll
• Women's Choice Award: 2018 Best Hospitals for Bariatric Care, Cancer Care, Heart Care, Obstetrics, Patient Experience, Patient Safety, and Stroke Care

• Accreditation Association of Ambulatory Health Care: seven consecutive excellent accreditation scores for meeting nationally recognized standards of high-quality health care
• National Committee for Quality Assurance: Level 3 Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition (12 clinics)
• Qualis Health: Award of Excellence in Healthcare Quality Outpatient Setting for “Integrating Behavioral Health into Primary Care”

• American Heart Association: “Get With The Guidelines” Stroke Gold Plus Award/Target Stroke Elite Plus”
• Baby-Friendly USA: Baby-friendly designation for maternity care
• BlueCross BlueShield Association: Blue Distinction Center in Knee and Hip Replacement, Maternity Care and Spine Surgery
• Commission on Cancer: Gold Level Outstanding Achievement Award (2018)
• Global Health Exchange: 2018 “Best 50” Healthcare Providers for Supply Chain Excellence
• Healthcare Information Management Systems Society: Stage 7 Award
• Healthgrades: America's 100 Best Hospitals Award (2018), Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence (since 2017)
• Human Rights Campaign: National Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality (since 2012)
• Joint Commission: Advanced Certification Program for Palliative Care and Primary Stroke Center
• LifeCenter Northwest: Organ Donation Achievement Award
• National Committee for Quality Assurance: 2017 Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition (nine primary care clinics)
• National Primary Care Baby-Friendly USA and Washington State Breastfeeding Gold Facility
• Neuroscience Institute Level 4 Epilepsy Center Accreditation (2017-2018)
• U.S News & World Report – Best Hospitals 2020-21:
  • No. 10 in Seattle metro area
  • No. 16 in Washington state
  • High performing in heart failure, hip replacement and knee replacement

Election as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an honor bestowed upon members by their peers. Fellows are recognized for meritorious efforts to advance science or its applications.

UW Medicine AAAS Fellows and year of recognition are listed below:

Read more about the American Association for the Advancement of Science

• 2004 – Linda B. Buck for discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system
• 2001 – Leland H. Hartwell for discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle
• 1992 – Edmond H. Fischer (deceased) and Edwin G. Krebs for discoveries concerning reversible protein phosphorylation as a biological regulatory mechanism
• 1990 – E. Donnall Thomas for discoveries concerning organ and cell transplantation in the treatment of human disease

Read about the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.

• 2014 – Mary-Claire King for bold, imaginative and diverse contributions to medical science and human rights. Dr. King discovered the BRCA1 gene locus that causes hereditary breast cancer and deployed DNA strategies that reunite missing persons or their remains with their families.
• 2002 – Belding H. Scribner for the development of renal hemodialysis, which changed kidney failure from a fatal to a treatable disease, prolonging the useful lives of millions of patients.
• 1999 – Bertil Hille for elucidating the functional and structural architecture of ion channel proteins, which govern the electrical potential of membranes throughout nature, thereby generating nerve impulses and controlling muscle contraction, cardiac rhythm and hormone secretion.
• 1998 – Lee Hartwell for pioneering genetic and molecular studies that revealed the universal machinery for regulating cell division in all eukaryotic organisms, from yeasts to frogs to human beings.
• 1989 – Edwin G. Krebs for his seminal finding that phosphorylation activates major enzymes in cells, and for perceiving the profound importance of protein kinase enzymes.
• 1987 – Leroy Hood for his imaginative studies of somatic recombination in the immune system, showing that rearrangements of genes lead to an infinite diversity of antibodies.

Read about the Lasker awards program.

• 2023 - E. Peter Greenberg, Microbiology, Canada Gairdner International Award for discoveries of how bacteria communicate with each other and surrounding non-bacterial cells, providing a new paradigm for how microbes behave and yielding novel avenues for therapeutics against infectious diseases.
• 2021 – Mary-Claire King for transforming cancer genetics and oncology with the discovery of inherited susceptibility to breast cancer due to mutation of the BRCA1 gene
• 2018 – Christopher J.L. Murray for ground-breaking work in conceptualizing and quantifying the Global Burden of Disease
• 2013 – King K. Holmes for global scientific contributions to the field of sexually transmitted disease and their effective treatment and prevention
• 2010 – William A. Catterall for discovery of the voltage-gated sodium channel and calcium channel proteins and the elucidation of their function and regulation
• 2003 – Linda B. Buck for discovery of the olfactory receptors and the clarification of how these receptors transfer olfactory signals to the brain
• 2002 – Maynard V. Olson for his original concepts, and for technological and experimental innovations that were critical for the sequencing of the mammalian genomes, Robert H. Waterston for major seminal contributions to the sequencing of the human and other genomes and Philip P. Green for his contributions to development of the computational tools essential for sequencing of the human genome
• 2001 – Bertil Hille for the elucidation of the mechanism of action and molecular structure of cation channels
• 1992 – Leland H. Hartwell in recognition of contributions in the field of cell cycle regulation
• 1990 – E. Donnall Thomas for the development of bone marrow transplantation as a therapy for leukemia and other blood disorders
• 1978 – Edwin G. Krebs for elucidating fundamental biochemical mechanisms related to glycogen breakdown: pioneer work that has enhanced our knowledge of hormone action
• 1969 – Belding H. Scribner for the concept of chronic intermittent hemodialysis; the arteriovenous cannulas which made it possible; his role in the development of "home" dialysis and continued basic and clinical investigation in his field

Read about the Gairdner awards program.

• Janis L. Abkowitz, professor of medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology 
• Frederick R. Applebaum, professor of medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology
• Alfred O. Berg, professor emeritus of family medicine
• Linda Buck, affiliate professor of physiology and biophysics
• Wylie G. Burke, professor emerita of bioethics & humanities
• Lawrence Corey, professor of medicine, laboratory medicine and pathology, and microbiology
• Nancy E. Davidson, professor of medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology
• Evan Eichler, professor of genome sciences​
• Mickey S. Eisenberg, professor emeritus of emergency medicine
• ​Christopher Elias, clinical professor of global health
• John P. Geyman, professor emeritus of family medicine
• Mark T. Groudine, professor of radiation oncology
• Maxine D. Hayes, clinical professor of pediatrics
• ​Bertil Hille, professor of physiology and biophysics
• King K. Holmes, professor emeritus of global health and of medicine, Division of Allergy and Infectious Disease
• Leroy Hood, affiliate professor of genome science, immunology and bioengineering
• Dean Jamison, professor emeritus of global health
• Joel D. Kaufman, professor of medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine
• Mary-Claire King, professor of genome sciences and of medicine, Division of Medical Genetics
• Eric B. Larson, affiliate professor of medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine
• Daniel Masys, affiliate professor of biomedical and health informatics
• ​Christopher J.L. Murray, professor and chair of health metrics sciences
• Bruce M. Psaty, professor of medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine
• Bonnie W. Ramsey, professor emeritus of pediatrics, Division of Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine
• Paul G. Ramsey, professor emeritus of medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine
• Frederick P. Rivara, professor of pediatrics
• ​Cornelius Rosse, professor emeritus of biological structure and of biomedical informatics and medical education
• Andy Stergachis, professor of global health
• ​Judy N. Wasserheit, professor of global health and of medicine, Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
• Robert H. Waterston, professor of genome sciences and of medicine, Division of Medical Genetics

Read about the National Academy of Medicine.

• David Baker, professor of biochemistry
• Joseph A. Beavo, Jr., professor emeritus of pharmacology
• Michael J. Bevan, professor emeritus of immunology
• Sue Biggins, affiliate professor of biochemistry
• Linda B. Buck, affiliate professor of physiology and biophysics
• Elizabeth Buffalo, professor and chair of physiology and biophysics
• Evan Eichler, professor of genome sciences
• Robert N. Eisenman, affiliate professor of biochemistry
• Joseph Felsenstein, professor emeritus of genome sciences
• Stanley Fields, professor of genome sciences and of medicine
• Stanley M. Gartler, professor emeritus of medicine, Division of Medical Genetics
• Daniel Gottschling, affiliate professor of genome sciences
• Philip P. Green III, professor of genome sciences
• E. Peter Greenberg, professor  of microbiology
• Mark T. Groudine, professor of radiation oncology
• Caroline Harwood, professor of microbiology
• Leland H. Hartwell, professor emeritus of genome sciences
• Steven Henikoff, affiliate associate professor of genome sciences
• Bertil Hille, professor emeritus of physiology and biophysics
• Leroy E. Hood, affiliate professor of genome sciences, immunology, and bioengineering
• Mary-Claire King, professor of genome sciences and medicine, Division of Medical Genetics
• Rachel Klevit, professor of biochemistry
• Mary Lidstrom, professor of microbiology and of chemical engineering
• Randall Moon, professor emeritus of pharmacology
• Joseph Mougous, professor of microbiology
• Eugene W. Nester, professor emeritus of microbiology
• Maynard V. Olson, professor emeritus of medicine, Division of Medical Genetics, and of genome sciences
• Richard D. Palmiter, professor of biochemistry
• Jay Shendure, professor of genome sciences
• Elizabeth Thompson, adjunct professor of genome sciences
• Robert H. Waterston, professor of genome sciences and professor of medicine, Division of Medical Genetics
• Rachel Wong, professor and chair  of biological structure

At UW Medicine:

• David Baker
• Evan E. Eichler
• Stanley Fields
• Mary Lidstrom
• Joseph Mougous
• Richard D. Palmiter
• John D. Scott
• Jay Shendure
• David Veesler
• Ning Zheng

​At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research​ Center:

• Trevor Bedford
• Sue Biggins
• Jesse Bloom
• Frederick "Erick" Matsen IV
• Steven Henikoff
• Harmit Malik

Read about Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

• 2017 – Catherine Carr, pediatrics
• 2007 – Maya Gupta, electrical engineering, and Michael MacCoss, genome sciences
• 2006 – Suzie Pun, bioengineering
• 2005 – William Grady, medicine
• 2004 – David Cummings, medicine
• 2002 – Marshall Horwitz, medicine
• 2000 – Charles Murry, pathology; David Russell, medicine; and Cecelia Moens, biostructure
• 1999 – Effie Petersdorf, medicine

Read about the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

• David Baker, biochemistry
  “We’re making new vaccines for many different viruses. I think it’s a very exciting time, almost a historical time, for this type of research.”
• Evan Eichler, genomics
  My interest in disease stems from my own personal family – having a niece with autism who’s now in her 20s, and for many years not being able to explain why children are born with autism and others are not.”
• Michael Gale, immunology and virology
  “I got interested in infectious disease because my sister got hepatitis A virus. … Since then, my interest turned to viruses: This tiny little piece of genetic material can kill you.”
• Allan Hoffman, bioengineering
  “I built the program called biomaterials here. … (It’s) probably one of the best in the world in the whole area of biological materials – synthetic materials for biology.”
• Christopher Murray, global health
  “My parents did medical work in Africa, so I grew up seeing lots of communities that were very poor and had extreme health problems. So I was really interested in understanding what made people so sick in poor places.”
• Mohsen Naghavi, global health
  “Public health without information is (like) walking in the dark. … I don’t think about my retirement because I love this job. I hope that maybe I die in my office.”
• Graham Nichol, emergency care
  “If we put a blood pressure cuff on someone’s arm or leg when they’re having cardiac arrest or having a heart attack, it appears that repeatedly inflating that blood-pressure cuff will help them. It will reduce the damage.”
• Deborah Nickerson, genomics
  “I love science. I mean, it drives me. … We’re really interested in what is the difference in genetic code from one person to another.”
• William Noble, genomics and proteomics
  “It wasn’t until I went into the Peace Corps and never picked up my philosophy books but found myself writing computer programs on paper that I realized the thing that I’m really excited about is being able to write code.”
• Mohamed Oukka, pediatrics and immunology
  “The Northwest has the highest incidence of multiple sclerosis in the country. … I was really interested in whether the mechanisms that drive MS in kids are the same as in adults.”
• Bruce Psaty, medicine and epidemiology
  “I’m often a problem-solver, and the problem I’m ‘trying to solve’ is how can we be productive in science? How can we use your tax dollars wisely?”
• Brian Saelens, pediatrics and health psychology
  “We think that … the tripling of childhood obesity over the past 20 or 30 years isn’t the result of one thing, it’s the result of so many different things, and we have to work in all those settings … to have an impact.”
• Judit Villen, genomics
  “Our research looks at the communication system of the cell. … We are trying to push the limits of technology to answer very fundamental questions in biology that are relevant to disease.”
• Theo Vos, global health
  “After med school, I went to Africa, spent almost 10 years in Lesotho and Zimbabwe, where I worked in district hospitals. … I got a really good sense of what it is to work under difficult circumstances in low-income countries.”

View the latest UW Medicine–affiliated top doctors.

View the latest UW Medicine–affiliated top doctors.

University of Washington (UW) consistently ranks among the top 10 in the world for clinical medicine in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). In 2018, UW ranked No. 6 (14th overall).

Read about ARWU.

The University of Washington is ranked No. 9 in the world in the field of medicine in the “2020 Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities” by National Taiwan University. Top 10 subject rankings were received for Microbiology (No. 4); Immunology (No. 5); Clinical Medicine (No. 9).