As one of 140 academic medical centers in the United States,[11] the Upstate University Health System serves over 1.8 million people annually.

Over 8,000 SUNY Upstate alumni physicians are licensed in the United States and they generate more than $24.8 billion in economic activity and support or employ over 140,000 employees.

Among the early luminaries at GMC were Prof. of Surgery Frank Hastings Hamilton, pioneer in orthopedics, military surgery, and military hygiene; Stephen Smith, briefly a GMC student in 1847–1848, later an innovative sanitarian and surgeon in New York City; Lecturer in the Theory and Practice of Medicine Austin Flint, developer of modern methods of auscultation, cofounder (with Hamilton and several other GMC faculty) of the University of Buffalo College of Medicine, and eventually President of the American Medical Association (AMA); and Prof. of Anatomy and Physiology Willard Parker, who became the premier surgeon at Bellevue.

[1]In 1871 Hobart disbanded GMC and sold its library, anatomical specimens, and other tangible assets to Dean John Towler.

Acting as a private citizen, Towler donated these materials to the new Syracuse University on condition that the trustees immediately establish an AMA-approved medical school.

[1] In the latter part of the century, the SU College of Medicine was among the first to institute a graded medical instruction program, with definite pre-clinical and clinical years and organize its curriculum according to the so-called "German model," with intense scientific and especially laboratory training for students in the first two years, and rigorous clinical training on rounds thereafter.

[1] This tradition of steadily improving educational methods, practices, and facilities placed the SU College of Medicine in a good light for the Carnegie Foundation's Flexner Report in 1910.

The Flexner Report hastened the demise of many medical schools in the United States and Canada, but, as Abraham Flexner wrote, "Of the eleven medical schools now existing in the state, only the bona-fide university departments can then expect to survive: outside of New York city, Syracuse University alone has just now a chance.

The first decade of the 21st century has been one of growth: the opening of the Institute for Human Performance for basic and clinical research; the East Tower expansion of University Hospital that houses the Golisano Children's Hospital and other clinical specialties; the Upstate cancer center; the Nappi Longevity Institute; a renovated gross anatomy lab; the Setnor Academic Building with a unique clinical skills center; and the purchase of land for a new Biotechnology Research Center; Geneva Tower including expansion of facilities past Interstate 81.

Although the Clinical Campus is community-based, Binghamton students spend similar amounts of time in hospitals on their rotations.

[19]Medical students on the Syracuse campus complete their clinical years at Upstate's own University Hospital and its affiliates.

Collectively, the hospital offers more surgeons, robotic instrumentation and specialty procedures than any other facility in Central New York, with the Department of Surgery providing the largest component.

The COM offers professional and graduate degrees including the Master of Public Health (MPH) and Doctor of Medicine (MD).

In addition, in conjunction with the College of Graduate Studies, the COM grants joint degrees including MD/MBA, MD/PhD and MD/MPH.The College of Medicine is the highest-funded school within the university, as a result graduates continue to do exceptionally well in matching into high quality programs for residency and match at a higher rate than the national average.

Several departments — Internal Medicine, Ophthalmology, Urology, Orthopedics and Neurosurgery, in particular — have considerable faculty and external funding dedicated to their research mission.

Physicians also partner with external institutions, such as nearby Syracuse and Cornell Universities for tissue engineering and brain tumor research.

[46][47] In addition, the Nappi Longevity Institute at Upstate Medical University—a five floor, nearly 200,000 square foot health and wellness complex—will be completed in 2023.

[49] Governor Andrew M. Cuomo congratulated Upstate Medical on its No.1 ranking COVID-19 saliva test by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for detecting the virus in its earliest stages.

The acquisition of the spectrometer filled a void in the region's research landscape as this instrument will be the only one of its kind in Central and Western New York.

In their paper the team states, "Our research is the first to develop an effective machine learning approach that can identify the latent patterns due to preclinical AD from MRI brain scans, which can significantly improve AD patients’ intervention and treatment.”[57] In 2021, the MD program received over 7,000 applications for 160 seats, an increase of over 26% from the previous year.

[58] The College of Medicine has a 97% pass rate on the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1.

[64][65] U.S. News & World Report ranked the NCOM 31st in the Best Research category among all public medical schools nationally.