I'm curious what kind of a thesis your friend would be writing on opinions people have of top medical schools - please share!
Of course, it is somewhat subjective, but the most often quoted list is what gets published in US News and World Reports - you can see their
top list of medical schools here.
To summarize (2008 Rankings):
Research Medical School Top 10:
Harvard
Hopkins
Wash U
U Penn
UCSF
Duke
Univ of Washington
Stanford
UCLA
Yale
Primary Care Top 10 (11 because of a tie):
Univ of Washington
Oregon Health Sciences
UNC - Chapel HIll
Univ of Colorado - Denver
Univ of Vermont
UCSF
Baylor
Harvard
Michigan State
Univ of Iowa
Univ of Minnesota