History

The New York University School of Medicine has a proud history that goes back to 1837 and includes initiation of and participation in many of the major events in American medicine through two centuries. In 1837, six years after the granting of the first University charter, the minutes of the meetings of the University Council contained the names of men suggested as professors for the chief branches of medical instruction.

In 1841, the University Medical College was organized, and instruction was begun under the following: Surgery, Anatomy; Chemistry; Theory and Practice of Medicine; Institutes of Medicine and Materia Medical; Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children.

Clinical instruction was started in Bellevue Hospital in 1847, and in 1861 Bellevue Hospital Medical College was founded when a college building was erected on the hospital grounds.

With the passing of the years and a deepening conviction that the total medical enterprise should be placed in the scholarly setting of the University, it became clear that University Medical College and Bellevue Hospital Medical College would benefit by consolidating. Thus, the medical school became an integral part of New York University in 1898 under the name of University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College. In 1935 the name was changed to New York University College of Medicine and in 1960 to New York University School of Medicine. The School of Medicine celebrated its sesquicentennial year in 1991.

Today the Medical School boasts 1,360 Full-Time faculty and 2,175 Part-Time faculty. There are 26 Endowed Professorships, 975 Residents/Fellows, 68 M.D./Ph.D. Candidates and 4,788 Post-Graduate Registrants.

Milestones

Year	Milestone
1841	The New York University College of Medicine opens, ten years after the founding of the university. The college is committed to strengthening the education of American physicians; among the original faculty is John Revere, son of patriot Paul Revere and Valentine Mott, probably the foremost surgeon of his day.
1854	Human dissection in New York is legalized due to efforts of faculty at the NYU College of Medicine, and becomes an important tool in the study of disease. The first successful resection of a hip joint is performed by Lewis A. Sayre, M.D., the first professor of orthopedic surgery in the United States.
1855-65	Faculty members of the NYU Medical College play a leading role in treating soldiers wounded during the Civil War, chiefly through work on the United States Sanitary Commission.
1866	NYU professors of medicine produce a Report for the Council of Hygiene and Public Health. It leads to the establishment of New York City's Health Department. The first outpatient clinic in the United States opens at NYU.
1872	NYU's Stephen Smith, M.D., founds the American Public Health Association.
1884	The Carnegie Laboratory, the first facility in the United States devoted to teaching and research in bacteriology and pathology, is established at NYU.
1899	Dr. Walter Reed discovers the mosquito transmission of yellow fever.
1911	The first outpatient cardiac clinic in New York is established by NYU's Hubert V. Guile, M.D.
1931	Albert Sabin, who later developed a live-virus vaccine against polio, received his M.D. degree at NYU.
1932	The first department of forensic medicine in the United States is established at NYU. NYU organizes one of the nation's first interdisciplinary research efforts, the Rheumatic Diseases Study Group, helping to usher in the era of modern rheumatology.
1933	William S. Tillett, M.D. conducts groundbreaking studies of enzymes involved in blood clotting. His work leads to the development of streptokinase, used to combat heart attacks.
1939	Jonas Salk, developer of the first vaccine against polio, receives his M.D. degree at NYU.
1941	The first department of physical medicine and rehabilitation in the United States is established at NYU.
1941-45	During the war years, NYU-trained Julius Axelrod, PhD., works with James Shannon, M.D., and other faculty members in the Medical Schools malaria program. Dr. Axelrod is later awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine.
1947	A site for a new Medical Center, consisting of the NYU School of Medicine, the Post-Graduate Medical School, University (now Tisch) Hospital, and the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, is selected. The Institute of Industrial Medicine is established.
1948	University Hospital is created through a merger of the New York Post-Graduate Hospital and New York Skin and Cancer Hospital.
1954	Lewis Thomas, M.D., assumes chairmanship of the Department of Pathology.
1955	The Medical Science Building and the Henry W. and Albert Berg Institute opens at NYU.
1957	The Hall of Research and Alumni Hall are constructed.
1959	The Nobel Prize for medicine is awarded to NYU faculty member Servero Ochoa, M.D., for his seminal study of biochemical genetics and nucleic acids.
1960	The Clinical Research Center, funded by the NIH, is established at NYU.
1960s	NYU pathologist Baruj Benacerraf, M.D., conducts pioneering research on genetic regulation of the immune system, for which he is later awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1980.
1962	One of the first M.D.-Ph.D., programs in the United States is established at NYU.
1963	The new University Hospital opens.
1964	The Institute and Department of Environmental Medicine are established.
1975	One of the first designated national cancer centers is established at NYU, later named the Rita and Stanley H. Kaplan Center.
1980	Saul Krugman, M.D., professor of pediatrics, develops the first vaccine against hepatitis B. Earlier, he had been honored for his research work in rubella.
1981	NYU scientists present the first evidence linking rare cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma, with immune deficiency in a distinct population of homosexual men, a key step in identifying AIDS.
1992	NYU Medical Center opens Women's Health Services under the auspices of the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Radiology.
1993	The School of Medicine's Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, the largest building project in history of NYU, is opened as an uncompromising commitment to the advancement and understanding of molecular approaches for the treatment of various important diseases.
2004	The NYU Clinical Cancer Center opens, a 13-story building, which offers comprehensive outpatient cancer services under one roof.
2006	Building on a 20-year affiliation relationship, the Hospital for Joint Diseases merges with NYU Medical Center. The new facility is known as NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases.
2006	The Joan and Joel Smilow Research Center opens, a 13-story, state-of-the-art research facility dedicated to translational research. Located at the southeast corner of the campus, near 30th Street and the FDR Drive, the Smilow Research Center houses multidisciplinary research teams, a mix of current investigators and new recruits, dedicated to such fields as cancer, cardiovascular biology, neuroscience, dermatology, genetics, and infectious diseases.
2007	Robert I. Grossman, MD, chairman of radiology, is named the 15th dean of the NYU School of Medicine and CEO of NYU Hospitals Center. One of his primary objectives is to create an integrated academic medical center, comprising the School of Medicine and the Hospitals (Tisch Hospital, Rusk Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine, and NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases).
2007	NYU School of Medicine becomes the largest academic affiliate for the New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), as Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center joins Bellevue Hospital Center, Gouverneur Healthcare Services, and Cumberland Diagnostic and Treatment Center as a partner institution of our Medical Center. These affiliations with city hospitals, alongside the federal affiliation with NY Harbor Healthcare System (i.e,. Manhattan VA) allow us to extend our reach and expertise to other communities, while also providing outstanding training for our students and residents in sites with very diverse patient populations.
2008	NYU Medical Center is renamed the Elaine A. and Kenneth G. Langone Medical Center, in honor of the chairman of the board of trustees and his wife, whose unrestricted $200 million gift is the largest in the Medical Center’s history. 2008 becomes a record year in the Medical Center's philanthropic history, augmented by a gift of $150 million from Helen L. Kimmel for a new clinical pavilion and an anonymous gift of $110 million to redesign Tisch Hospital.