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The Health Sciences at Columbia University: A Timeline

1700's  1800's  1900's  2000's

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YEAR DESCRIPTION IMAGE
 
1754
King's College, chartered by George II, opens as the first institution of higher learning in the Colony of New York.
 
1767
King's College establishes a medical school, the first in New York and only the second in the Thirteen Colonies.
 
1769
King's awards two BA degrees in medicine at the first commencement of the medical school. In his address to the graduates, Dean Samuel Bard calls for the establishment of what will become New York Hospital.
Picture of Samuel Bard
1770
King's College awards first M.D. degree in the Colonies to Robert Tucker.
 
1771
New York Hospital, the second in the Colonies after the Pennsylvania Hospital, receives charter from King George III.
 
1775
King's College faculty member John Jones publishes Plain Concise Practical Remarks on the Treatment of Wounds and Fractures, the first surgical text written by an American to be published in North America.
Picture of John Jones
1776
King's College closes due to the American Revolution.
 
1784
King's reopens as Columbia College.
 
1791
Columbia revives the medical school with Samuel Bard as Dean.

New York Hospital opens in buildings on Broadway between what are now Duane and Worth Streets.
Picture of New York Hospital
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1807
The College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S) founded by charter from the New York State Board of Regents in response to a petition from the Medical Society of the County of New York.
 
1811
Samuel Bard becomes President of P&S, a position he retains until his death in 1821.

A new charter from the Regents vests governance of P&S in a 25 member Board of Trustees, effectively ending control of the school by the Medical Society.
 
1813
After several previous short-lived locations, P&S moves to Barclay Street near City Hall, where it remains for almost 25 years.
Picture of P & S at Barclay St.
1814
After years of decline, the Columbia College medical school merges into the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
 
1826
A dispute over the composition of the Board of Trustees leads to the resignation of almost the entire faculty of P&S.
 
1837
P&S moves to Crosby Street.
Picture of P & S at Crosby St.
1855
P&S appoints John Call Dalton, Jr. as first full-time professor of physiology at an American medical school.
Picture of John Call Dalton
1856
P&S moves to the corner of Fourth Avenue (now Park Avenue South) and 23rd St.
Picture of P & S at 23rd St.
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1860
P&S severs its relationship with the Board of Regents and forges a nominal connection with Columbia, though the school still retains its independence.
 
1866
New York Orthopaedic Hospital established.
 
1868
Presbyterian Hospital founded by philanthropist and book collector James Lenox. The hospital is to be open to all "without regard to race, creed, or color."
Picture of James Lenox.
1872
Formal opening of Presbyterian Hospital, October 10, located on a site bounded by Madison and Park Avenues, 70th and 71st Streets.
Picture of Prespyterian Hospital 1872.
1880
Presbyterian Hospital acquires its first ambulance.
Picture of Ambulance.
1882
P&S assumes control of the First Division at Bellevue Hospital.
 
1884
William Henry Vanderbilt (1821-1885) donates land on 59th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues (now Columbus and Amsterdam) and $300,000 for a new building for the College of Physicians and Surgeons, making this the largest gift to a medical school up to that time.
 
1886
Vanderbilt family members give funds to establish the Sloane Hospital for Women and the Vanderbilt Clinic on the new P&S campus.
 
1887
Dedication of the new building of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Sept. 29. Sloane Hospital and the Vanderbilt Clinic inaugurated, Dec. 29.
Picture of P & S at 59th St.
Babies Hospital (now Children's Hospital of New York) founded by five women to provide "medical and surgical aid and nursing for sick babies." The hospital is soon located at Lexington Avenue and 55th Street.
Picture of Babies Hospital

1888
P&S extends course of study to three years.
 
1891
P&S completely merges with Columbia.
 
1892
The Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing, predecessor of the Columbia University School of Nursing, opens with Anna C. Maxwell as its first Director.
Picture of Anna C. Maxwell.
1894
P&S adopts a four-year course of study.
 
1896
New York State Psychiatric Institute founded as the Pathological Institute.
 
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1904
Florence Nightingale Hall, first home of the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing, opens on East 71st Street.

School of Nursing inaugurates a visiting nurse service, precursor to the Presbyterian Hospital Social Service Department.
Picture of Florence Nightingale Hall.
1908
George Crocker, a Western railroad millionaire, donates $50,000 to P&S for cancer research. His gift inaugurates the formal study of the disease at Columbia.
Picture of George Crocker.
1909
Neurological Institute of New York opens as the country's first hospital and research center devoted solely to neurological disorders.
 
1911
First Agreement of Alliance between Columbia University and Presbyterian Hospital. Philanthropist Edward S. Harkness provides $1 million to facilitate the union.
 
1916
The School of Dentistry opens. In 1923 the new dental school absorbs the College of Dental and Oral Surgery of New York and is renamed the School of Dental and Oral Surgery.
Picture of Dental & Oral Surgery clinic.
1917
P&S admits women for the first time.

First graduating class of the Dental Hygiene Program of SDOS.
 
1917-1919
Presbyterian Hospital physicians and nurses serve in US Army Base Hospital No. 2 in France.
 
1919
P&S Dean William Darrach's "Memorandum on the School of Medicine" outlines possible operating plan for a Columbia-Presbyterian alliance; it breaks deadlock between university and hospital.
Picture of William Darrach.
1921
Second Agreement of Alliance between Columbia University and Presbyterian Hospital paves way for construction of a "medical center."

Edward S. Harkness and his mother, Mrs. Stephen Harkness, donate 22 acres in Washington Heights to Columbia University and Presbyterian Hospital as the site for the new Medical Center.
Picture of Edward S. Harkness.
1922
Establishment of the DeLamar Institute of Public Health, predecessor of the Mailman School of Public Health. Haven Emerson is first Director.
 
1925
Groundbreaking for the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, Jan. 31.
Picture of Ground Breaking at CPMC.
1926
The School of Tropical Medicine, a joint venture of Columbia University and the University of Puerto Rico, opens in San Juan. It remains Columbia's center for the study of tropical diseases until 1948.
Picture of Faculty of Tropical Medicince School.
1928
Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, the world's first medical center to combine complete facilities for patient care, medical education and research in a single complex, is dedicated on Oct 12 in Washington Heights. Joining the Center are the Vanderbilt Clinic and Sloane Hospital for Women.
Picture of Dedication of CPMC.
1929
Neurological Institute of New York (March) and Babies Hospital (June) open their new buildings at the Columbia- Presbyterian Medical Center.
Picture of Neurological Institute.
New York State Psychiatric Institute opens at the Medical Center (Dec.)
Picture of Babies Hospital.
1931
Bard Hall, first P&S dormitory, opens.
Picture of Bard Hall.
1933
Harkness Institute of Ophthalmology opens.
 
1935
School of Dental and Oral Surgery Associate Dean Arthur Rowe and faculty member Paul Wiberg are murdered by a deranged handyman at the Medical Center, Dec. 12.
 
1937
Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing becomes Department of Nursing of Columbia University.
 
1940
Dr. Charles R. Drew receives his Doctor of Medical Science degree from Columbia University for his thesis "Banked Blood: A Study in Blood Preservation," based on his work with Dr. John Scudder in the Presbyterian Hospital Blood Bank.
Picture of Blood Bank.
1943
Bacitracin is discovered by P&S laboratory supervisor Balbina Johnson. Under the supervision of professor of surgery Frank L. Meleney, it becomes one of the most useful of the early antibiotic drugs.
Picture of Balbina Johnson.
1945
Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research established as the world's first university-based psychoanalytic institute.
 
1947
Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, NY, becomes the first P&S teaching affiliate outside New York City.
 
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1950
New York Orthopaedic Hospital moves to the Medical Center after affiliating with Presbyterian Hospital in 1945.

Francis Delafield Hospital, a municipal hospital for cancer patients staffed by Columbia University faculty, opens adjacent to the Medical Center. It closes in 1975.
Picture of Radiation Therapy.
1953
Professor of Anesthesiology Virginia Apgar (P&S '33) publishes her 10 point score for assessing the condition of newborns, now called the Apgar Score.
Picture of Dr. Virginia Apgar.
1956
P&S faculty members André F. Cournand and Dickinson W. Richards, along with German scientist Werner Forssmann, receive the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work on cardiac catherization.

School of Nursing awards country's first master's degree in a clinical nursing speciality.
Picture of Nobel Prize Ceremony.
1962
Harlem Hospital affiliates with P&S.
 
1965
Dedication of Alumni Auditorium.
 
1966
Dedication of the William Black Medical Research Building.
Picture of Black Building.
1968
P&S severs ties with Bellevue Hospital.

School of Public Health is first in the US to offer a graduate degree in sociomedical science, an innovative, multidisciplinary approach to the study of health and medicine.
 
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1976
Opening of the Hammer Health Sciences Center, housing the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library as well as classrooms and laboratories.
Picture of Hammer Health Sciences Center.
1984
Drs. Keith Reemtsma and Eric Rose of the P&S Dept. of Sugery perform first successful heart transplant in a child, June 9.
Picture of Pediatric Heart Transplant.
1989
Milstein Hospital Building of Presbyterian Hospital opens.
Picture of the Milstein Hospital Building.
1996
Mary Woodard Lasker Building, first structure of the Audubon Biomedical Science and Technology Park, opens on a campus adjacent to the Medical Center.
 
1997
Merger of New York Hospital and Presbyterian Hospital to form New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Dec. 31.
 
1998
The School of Public Health renamed the Mailman School in recognition of a $33 million gift from the Mailman Foundation, the largest gift to a public health school up to that time.

Completion of new home for the New York State Psychiatric Institute on Riverside Drive.
 
2000
P&S faculty member Eric Kandel wins the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on the molecular basis of memory.
Picture of Eric Kandel.
2003

Opening of Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York.

Columbia University Health Sciences Division changes its name to Columbia University Medical Center.

 
2004

Richard Axel, P&S faculty member,is awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work in determining the genes that govern the sense of smell.

 

2006

School of Dental & Oral Surgery changes its name to the College of

Dental Medicine.

 
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