The school’s mission includes the education of physicians at all levels of their professional experience: medical school; postgraduate education, including basic science and clinical training; and continuing education and professional development for the practicing physician. In addition several master's level and two additional doctoral degrees in health care professions are offered.

Faculty members teach the practice of exemplary patient care at all levels; model programs of health care delivery, at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels; and fulfill the school’s responsibility for community service.

In addition to teaching, members of the medical school faculty have a complementary responsibility to generate new knowledge through research. At Vanderbilt, research encompasses basic scientific questions, issues in clinical care, questions related to the health care system, and scholarship in the medical education process itself. Vanderbilt is recognized as one of the leaders in research among medical schools in the United States.