History
1817 The University of Michigan is founded as one of the first public universities in the nation.
1837 The University moves its campus from Detroit to Ann Arbor.
1848 The Board of Regents establishes a three-member medical department, known today as the U-M Medical School.
1850 The Medical School opens its doors to more than 100 students. They are charged $5 a year for two years of education.
1852 Ninety young physicians receive medical diplomas from the U-M.
1867 Overall University enrollment reaches an all-time high of 1,255 students; 525 of the students are enrolled in the Medical School.
1869 U-M opens the first university-owned medical facility in the United States. The 20-bed hospital is located in the residence of a former professor. It has no wards or operating rooms.
1875 U-M adds two wooden pavilions to the hospital. The structure is designed to be "easily burned down in 10 years because it would be badly infected," according to one physician of the time.
1880 The Medical School adopts a three-year curriculum, introduces laboratory instruction and assigns grades for the first time.
1890 U-M adopts the four-year medical school program still in use today.
1891 The first six nursing students are admitted to the University Hospital program.
1891 A new hospital on Catherine Street replaces the old Campus Pavilion Hospital.
1899 The Medical School introduces the clinical clerkship. The breakthrough is made possible by the fact that the U-M owns its own hospital (privately owned hospitals would not allow medical students to touch their patients).
1900 The U.S. medical community recognizes the Catherine Street Hospital as the largest teaching hospital in the country.
1903 The 75-bed Palmer Ward for children opens in the Catherine Street Hospital.
1906 - The Department of Psychiatry, one of the nation's first such academic departments, is established.
1912 The U-M establishes the nation's first Department of Dermatology.
1913 U-M researchers introduce the electrocardiogram (EKG) to American physicians.
1921 U-M establishes Pediatrics as an independent department, strengthening the University's focus on children.
1922 U-M Pediatrician David Murray Cowie introduces iodized salt as a goiter preventive.
1925 The University Hospital (also known as the Main Hospital) replaces the Catherine Street Hospital. University Hospital is a 700-bed facility designed to meet the needs of advanced patient care and medical education.
1928 University Hospital offers the first physician training program in thoracic surgery. Four years later, U-M physicians perform the world's first successful lung removal.
1939 The Neuropsychiatric Institute opens, adjacent to the main hospital.
1940 U-M creates the first human genetics program in the United States.
1941 The Board of Regents authorizes the establishment of the nation's first hereditary diseases clinic at University Hospital.
1941 The U-M School of Nursing is fully established as a health science academic unit of the University.
1950 The U-M Women's Hospital opens its doors.
1951 The four-year program leading to the Bachelor of Science in nursing is established.
1955 The Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Hospital opens.
1968 U-M physicians perform the first heart transplant in Michigan at University Hospital .
1969 C.S. Mott Children's Hospital opens as the U-M's first separate children's hospital.
1972 U-M builds the James and Lynelle Perinatal Holden Hospital (now called the Holden Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) to care for premature and critically ill infants.
1972 The Ph.D. program in nursing is one of the first in the nation.
1976 U-M establishes the W.K. Kellogg Eye Center. The 32-bed facility provides patient care, education and research in eye diseases. Today, Kellogg is an outpatient facility.
1986 A new 11-story, 550-bed adult general University Hospital replaces the old University Hospital. The A. Alfred Taubman Health Care Center, which houses 120 outpatient clinics, is connected to the facility.
1990 The expansion of the U-M Hospitals continues with the opening of integrated services for children and women in 221,000 square feet of new space and renovated units in existing hospitals.
1991 The School of Nursing celebrates its 100th anniversary.
1997 The Board of Regents officially approves "University of Michigan Health System" as a designation for the U-M Hospitals and Health Centers, Medical School, M-CARE and Michigan Health Corp. Also this year, the U-M moves its cancer and geriatrics clinical and research programs into the $88 million Cancer Center and Geriatrics Center Building, establishes the Center for Gene Therapy and enhances resources for the Center for Organogenesis.
2001 The National Institutes of Health awards a record $203 million to the U-M. In addition, this year, the U-M establishes the nation's first comprehensive Depression Center.
2003 The U-M breaks ground for a state-of-the-art clinical building for the Cardiovascular Center on the former site of the "Old Main" Hospital, to provide space for clinical care, research and teaching activities focused on the entire spectrum of cardiovascular disease. The Center is slated for completion in 2007. Also this year, the Medical School begins to implement a new curriculum that integrates biomedical, clinical, and psychosocial sciences with clinical skills and professionalism.
2004 The largest gift ever given to the Health System, $44 million from Bill and Dee Brehm, is announced; it includes funds for the Brehm Center for Type 1 Diabetes Research and Analysis, a new Michigan Comprehensive Diabetes Center, faculty positions, and a research facility to be built as part of the expansion of the Kellogg Eye Center.
2005 A new Master Plan and Strategic Direction for UMHS are introduced, forming a framework for continued growth to meet the new challenges of the health care and research environment.
2006 The sale of M-CARE to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and its Blue Care Network is finalized. The East Ann Arbor Surgery and Medical Procedures Center, Rachel Upjohn Building (including the U-M Depression Center) and Biomedical Science Research Building open.
For more information about the history of the University of Michigan Health System and the U-M Medical School, visit these links:
University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine
University of Michigan Medical School History
University of Michigan Press
University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library
Updated January 8, 2007
