The Keck School of Medicine is home to 25 research-oriented basic and clinical academic departments. The departments form the organizational backbone of the Keck School’s missions in research, education, patient care and community service.
All Keck School departments take part in education. In total, department faculty members direct the studies of more than 650 medical students, nearly 300 graduate students and more than 900 interns, residents and fellows annually.
Departments also play a central role in patient care at Keck-affiliated hospitals and clinics, as well as through faculty members’ private practices. All of the 17 clinical departments provide university-level patient care while also directing clinical studies and trials.
With more than $125 million in research funding, departments lead efforts that may lead to radical new understandings of the body and disease. The six basic science departments put a major emphasis on research into the fundamental understanding of biological systems and how biological problems can cause disease.