Harvard Medical School

Last updated

Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School shield.svg
Coat of arms
Type Private medical school
EstablishedSeptember 19, 1782 (1782-09-19)
Parent institution
 Harvard University
Dean George Q. Daley
Academic staff
11,694 [1]
StudentsTotals:
  • MD – 712
  • PhD – 915
  • DMD – 140
  • Master's – 269
  • DMSc – 39
Location
Boston
,
Massachusetts
,
United States

42°20′13″N71°06′14″W / 42.33694°N 71.10389°W / 42.33694; -71.10389
Website hms.harvard.edu
Harvard Medical School seal.svg

Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States, [2] and provides patient care, medical education, and research training through its 15 clinical affiliates and research institutes, including Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston Children's Hospital, Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Mount Auburn Hospital, McLean Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, The Baker Center for Children and Families, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, and others [3]

Contents

Harvard Medical School also partners with newer entities such as Harvard Catalyst, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the Center for Primary Care, and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. [3]

History

Massachusetts Medical College ca1824 MasonSt Boston.png
Massachusetts Medical College on Mason Street
The new Massachusetts Medical College in Grove St., Boston, by William Comely Sharp, W. Sharp & Co Lith, c. 1840s, from the Digital Commonwealth - commonwealth 37720s00b.jpg
Massachusetts Medical College on Grove Street in Boston
Harvard Medical School HDR.jpg
The Harvard Medical School quadrangle in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area in Boston

Harvard Medical School was founded on September 19, 1782, on the initiative of Harvard President Joseph Willard. The founding faculty were John Warren, Aaron Dexter, and Benjamin Waterhouse. It is the third-oldest medical school in the United States, after the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Lectures were first held in the basement of Harvard Hall, then in Holden Chapel. Students paid no tuition but purchased tickets to five or six daily lectures. [2] [4] The first two students graduated in 1788. [2]

In the following century, the school moved locations several times due to changing clinical relationships, a function of the fact that Harvard Medical School does not directly own or operate a teaching hospital. [5] In 1810, the school moved to Boston at what is now downtown Washington Street. In 1816, the school was moved to Mason Street and was called the Massachusetts Medical College of Harvard University in recognition of a gift from the Great and General Court of Massachusetts. In 1847, the school was moved to Grove Street to be closer to Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1883, the school was relocated to Copley Square. [2] Before this move, Charles William Eliot became Harvard's president in 1869 and found the medical school in the worst condition of any part of the university. He instituted drastic reforms that raised admissions standards, instituted a formal degree program, and defined HMS as a professional school within Harvard University that laid the groundwork for its transformation into one of the leading medical schools in the world. [4]

In 1906, the school moved to its present location in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area. [2] [6]

Innovations

Harvard Medical School postdoctoral trainees and faculty have been associated with several important medical and public health innovations: [2]

  • Introduction of smallpox vaccination to America
  • Introduction of insulin to the US to treat diabetes
  • Comprehending of the role of vitamin B12 in treating anemia
  • Identification of coenzyme A and understanding of proteins
  • Developing tissue culture methods for the polio virus, which paved the way for vaccines against polio
  • Mapping the visual system of the brain
  • Development of the first successful chemotherapy for childhood leukemia
  • Development of the first implantable cardiac pacemaker
  • Discovering the inheritance of immunity to infection
  • Development of artificial skin for burn victims
  • First successful heart valve surgery (at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, 1923) [7]
  • First successful human kidney transplant
  • First reattachment of a severed human limb
  • Discovery of the genes that cause Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), and Alzheimer's disease, among many others
  • Establishing the importance of tumor vascular supply (angiogenesis) and seeding vascular biology
Front entrance of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. Front Entrance of Massachusetts General Hospital.jpg
Front entrance of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School.

Broadening admissions

Women

In mid-1847, professor Walter Channing's proposal that women be admitted to lectures and examinations was rejected by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. That year Harriot Hunt became the first woman to apply to Harvard Medical School. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. had recently been made Dean of the school and initially considered accepting her application. He was heavily criticized by the all-male student body [9] as well as the university overseers and other faculty members, and she was asked to withdraw her application. [10] Shortly after Elizabeth Blackwell's graduation from Geneva College in 1849, Hunt applied to Harvard again, but was denied. [11]

In 1866, two women with extensive medical education elsewhere applied but were denied admission. In 1867, a single faculty member's vote blocked the admission of Susan Dimock. In 1872, Harvard declined a gift of $10,000 conditioned on the medical school admitting women medical students on the same terms as men. A similar offer of $50,000, by a group of ten women including Marie Elizabeth Zakrzewska, was declined in 1882; a committee of five was appointed to study the matter. After the medical school moved from North Grove Street to Boylston Street in 1883, professor Henry Ingersoll Bowditch's proposal that the North Grove Street premises be used for medical education for women was rejected.

In 1943, a dean's committee recommended the admission of women, the proportion of men and women being dependent solely on the qualifications of the applicants. [12] In 1945, the first class of women was admitted; projected benefits included helping male students learn to view women as equals, increasing the number of physicians in lower-paid specialties typically shunned by men, and replacing the weakest third of all-male classes with better-qualified women. [13] By 1972, about one-fifth of Harvard medical students were women. [12]

African Americans

In 1850, three black men, Martin Delany, Daniel Laing Jr., and Isaac H. Snowden, were admitted to the school but were later expelled under pressure from faculty and other students.

In 1968, in response to a petition signed by hundreds of medical students, the faculty established a commission on relations with the black community in Boston; at the time less than one percent of Harvard medical students were black. By 1973, the number of black students admitted had tripled, and by the next year, it had quadrupled. [12] In 2011, HMS appointed its first African American full professor of medicine, Valerie E. Stone. [14] That year they also appointed their first African-American professor of radiology, Stone's former classmate Tina Young Poussaint. [14]

In 2019 LaShyra Nolen was the first black woman to be elected class president of Harvard Medical School. [15]

2018—2022 Anatomical Gifts morgue scandal

On June 14, 2023, the morgue manager for the Anatomical Gifts Program at Harvard Medical School, Cedric Lodge, and associates were criminally charged with theft of human organs by the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. [16] Twelve lawsuits were subsequently filed against the school by families of Lodge's victims. [17] On January 17, 2024, a lawyer representing Harvard urged Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Salinger to dismiss the lawsuits. [17]

Medical education

The 1910 photo shows abnormal specimens in the collection of the Warren Anatomical Museum at HMS (named for its founder John Collins Warren, first Dean of HMS). Bulletin of the Warren Anatomical Museum (1910) (14760804254).jpg
The 1910 photo shows abnormal specimens in the collection of the Warren Anatomical Museum at HMS (named for its founder John Collins Warren, first Dean of HMS).

Curriculum

Harvard Medical School has gone through many curricular revisions for its MD program. In recent decades, HMS has maintained a three-phase curriculum with a classroom-based pre-clerkship phase, a principal clinical experience (PCE), and a post-PCE phase. [18]

The pre-clerkship phase has two curricular tracks. The majority of students enter the more traditional Pathways track that focuses on active learning and earlier entry into the clinic with courses that include students from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. Pathways students gain early exposure to the clinic through a longitudinal clinical skills course that lasts the duration of the pre-clerkship phase. A small portion of each class enters the HST track, which is jointly administered with MIT. The HST track is designed to train physician-scientists with an emphasis on basic physiology and quantitative understanding of biological processes through courses that include Ph.D. students from MIT.

Admissions

Admission to Harvard Medical School's MD program is highly selective. There are 165 total spots for each incoming class, with 135 spots in the Pathways curriculum and 30 spots in the HST program. [19] While both use a single application, each curricular track independently evaluates applicants.

For the MD Class of 2023, 6,815 candidates applied, and 227 were admitted (3.3%). There was a matriculation rate of 73%. [1] For the Master of Medical Sciences (MMSc) program in Global Health Delivery, the Fall 2020 admissions rate was 8.2%.

Rankings

For 2024, U.S. News & World Report ranked Harvard Medical School #1 in Best Medical Schools: Research and tied #22 in Best Medical Schools: Primary Care. [20]

Graduate education

PhD degree programs

There are nine PhD programs based in Harvard Medical School. [21] Students in these programs are enrolled in the Division of Medical Sciences in Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) and are part of the HILS (Harvard Integrated Life Sciences) inter-program federation. [22]

Master's degree programs

Harvard Medical School offers two types of master's degrees, Master of Medical Sciences (MMSc) degrees and Master of Science (MS) degrees. [23]

Postgraduate certificate programs

Harvard Medical School offers several Postgraduate Certificate programs. [24] These graduate-level programs may run up to twelve months. Admitted participants are awarded a Certificate from Harvard Medical School upon successful completion, and are eligible for associate membership in the Harvard Alumni Association. [25]

Affiliated teaching hospitals and research institutes

Harvard Medical School does not directly own or operate any hospitals and instead relies on affiliated teaching hospitals for clinical education. Medical students primarily complete their clinical experiences at the following hospitals. [26] Clinical faculty at Harvard Medical School generally hold a concurrent appointment as a physician or a surgeon at one of the affiliated hospitals. Basic science faculty at Harvard Medical School may hold the primary appointment at the School itself or one of the affiliated hospitals.

Notable alumni

As of 2020, there are over 10,425 alumni. [1] It has trained more Nobel Prize winners in Medicine and Physiology than any other medical school. [27] [28]

See also

Related Research Articles

The Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a private medical school in New York City. Founded in 1953, Einstein operates as an independent degree-granting institution as part of the integrated healthcare Montefiore Health System and also has affiliations with Jacobi Medical Center.

Doctor of Medicine is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. This generally arose because many in 18th-century medical professions trained in Scotland, which used the M.D. degree nomenclature. In England, however, Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.B.S.) was used: in the 19th century, it became the standard in Scotland too. Thus, in the United Kingdom, Ireland and other countries, the M.D. is a research doctorate, honorary doctorate or applied clinical degree restricted to those who already hold a professional degree (Bachelor's/Master's/Doctoral) in medicine. In those countries, the equivalent professional degree to the North American, and some others' usage of M.D. is still typically titled Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery.

A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, Master of Medicine, Doctor of Medicine (MD), or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO). Many medical schools offer additional degrees, such as a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), master's degree (MSc) or other post-secondary education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alpert Medical School</span> Medical school of Brown University

The Warren Alpert Medical School is the medical school of Brown University, located in Providence, Rhode Island. Originally established in 1811, it was the third medical school to be founded in New England after only Harvard and Dartmouth. However, the original program was suspended in 1827, and the four-year medical program was re-established almost 150 years later in 1972, granting the first MD degrees in 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indiana University School of Medicine</span> Medical school of Indiana University

The Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) is a major, multi-campus medical school located throughout the U.S. state of Indiana and is the graduate medical school of Indiana University. There are nine campuses throughout the state; the principal research, educational, and medical center is located on the campus of Indiana University Indianapolis. With 1,461 MD students, 195 PhD students, and 1,442 residents and fellows in the 2023–24 academic year, IUSM is the largest medical school in the United States. The school offers many joint degree programs including an MD/PhD Medical Scientist Training Program. It has partnerships with Purdue University's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, other Indiana University system schools, and various in-state external institutions. It is the medical school with the largest number of graduates licensed in the United States per a 2018 Federation of State Medical Boards survey with 11,828 licensed physicians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth</span> Medical school of Dartmouth College

The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth is the graduate medical school of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The fourth oldest medical school in the United States, it was founded in 1797 by New England physician Nathan Smith. It is one of the seven Ivy League medical schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvard School of Dental Medicine</span> Dental school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts

The Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) is the dental school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to the DMD degree, HSDM offers specialty training programs, advanced training programs, and a PhD program through the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The program considers dentistry a specialty of medicine. Therefore, all students at HSDM experience dual citizenship between Harvard School of Dental Medicine and Harvard Medical School. Today, HSDM is the smallest school at Harvard University with a total student body of 280.

Tufts University School of Dental Medicine (TUSDM) is a private, American dental school located in the Chinatown neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, and is connected to Tufts Medical Center. It is one of the 8 graduate schools that comprise Tufts University. Founded in 1868 as Boston Dental College by Dr. Isaac J. Wetherbee, the university is the second oldest dental school in the city, and one of the oldest in the country.

The Harvard–MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, or HST, is one of the oldest and largest biomedical engineering and physician-scientist training programs in the United States. It was founded in 1970 and is the longest-standing collaboration between Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Within the program, graduate and medical students are registered with both MIT and Harvard and may work with faculty and affiliated faculty members from both communities. HST is a part of MIT's Institute for Medical Engineering and Science and forms the London Society at Harvard Medical School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences</span> Private university in the United States

Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) is a private university focused on health- and life-sciences education, with campuses in Boston, Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachusetts, and Manchester, New Hampshire, as well as online programs. The university provides traditional and accelerated programs of study focused on professional education in pharmacy and the health sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney Medical School</span>

The University of Sydney School of Medicine, also known as Sydney Medical School (SMS) is the graduate medical school of the University of Sydney. Established in 1856, it is the first medical school in Australia. In 2018, Sydney Medical School joined the newly formed Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. SMS is ranked 19th in the world and second in Australia in the 2021 QS Subject Rankings for medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State University of New York Upstate Medical University</span> Medical school of SUNY Upstate

The State University of New York Upstate Medical University is a public medical school in Syracuse, New York. Founded in 1834, Upstate is the 15th oldest medical school in the United States and is the only medical school in Central New York. The university is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine</span> Private medical school in Boston, Massachusetts, US

Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine (CAMED), formerly known as Boston University School of Medicine, is the medical school of Boston University, a private research university in Boston. It was founded in 1848. The medical school was the first institution in the world to formally educate female physicians. Originally known as the New England Female Medical College, it was subsequently renamed Boston University School of Medicine in 1873, then Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine in 2022. In 1864, it became the first medical school in the United States to award an M.D. degree to an African-American woman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carola B. Eisenberg</span> American psychiatrist (1917–2021)

Carola Blitzman Eisenberg was an Argentine-American psychiatrist who became the first woman to hold the position of Dean of Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1978 to 1990, she was the dean of student affairs at Harvard Medical School (HMS). She was a long-time lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at HMS. She was also both a founding member of Physicians for Human Rights and an honorary psychiatrist with the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. After retiring, she was involved in human rights work through Physicians for Human Rights, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and elsewhere. She turned 100 in September 2017 and died in Lincoln, Massachusetts, in March 2021 at the age of 103.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvard University</span> Private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US

Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded October 28, 1636, and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Its influence, wealth, and rankings have made it one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine</span> Medical school in Texas, USA

The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine is the medical school of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC). TTUHSC SOM was originally chartered in 1969 to train more physicians for the underserved populations of the West Texas region. As of 2011, the School of Medicine has awarded over 4,000 Doctor of Medicine degrees. The school offers the traditional four-year curriculum, as well as an accelerated three-year track, and joint degree programs with Texas Tech University.

Edward J. Benz Jr. is the former president of Dana–Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts., and the Richard and Susan Smith Professor of Medicine as well as a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School.

Joan Y. Reede is an American physician. She is Harvard Medical School's inaugural dean for diversity and community partnership in the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Partnership. She is also a member of the National Academy of Medicine. She is known for creating programs that mentor and support minority physicians and female physicians. Alumni of her programs have created a 501(c)(3) organization called The Reede Scholars in her honor.

Daniel David Federman, was an American endocrinologist and the Carl W. Walter Distinguished Professor of Medicine and the dean for medical education at Harvard Medical School. He helped change medical education at through its New Pathway curriculum around the early 1990s, and his work helped create the field of genetic endocrinology. Federman also worked for over thirty years at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katrina Armstrong</span> American internist

Katrina Alison Armstrong is an American internist, currently serving as the interim president of Columbia University since August 2024. She concurrently serves as CEO of Irving Medical Center and as dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences at the university.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Facts and Figures". Harvard Medical School. Harvard University. Archived from the original on March 24, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The History of HMS". hms.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on August 2, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
  3. 1 2 "HMS Affiliates". hms.harvard.edu. Harvard Medical School. Archived from the original on January 29, 2017. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  4. 1 2 Morison, Samuel Eliot (1930). The Development of Harvard University since the inauguration of President Eliot, 1869–1929. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 555–594 & Preface.
  5. ↑ "History of Harvard Medicine". medstudenthandbook.hms.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on August 4, 2017. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Countway Medical Library — Records Management — Historical Notes". Archived from the original on September 1, 2006. Retrieved February 25, 2007.
  7. ↑ Cohn, Lawrence H; Tchantchaleishvilli, Vakhtang; Rajab, Taufiek K (July 2015). "Evolution of the concept and practice of mitral valve repair". Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery. 4 (4): 315–321. doi:10.3978/j.issn.2225-319X.2015.04.09. PMC   4526492 . PMID   26309840.
  8. ↑ "About Education".
  9. ↑ Menand, Louis. The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001: 8. ISBN   0-374-19963-9.
  10. ↑ Gibian, Peter. Oliver Wendell Holmes and the Culture of Conversation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001: 176. ISBN   0-511-01763-4.
  11. ↑ Kelly, Howard A.; Burrage, Walter L. (eds.). "Hunt, Harriot Kezia"  . American Medical Biographies  . Baltimore: The Norman, Remington Company.
  12. 1 2 3 Beecher, Henry Knowles (1977). Medicine at Harvard : the first three hundred years. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England. pp. 460–481.
  13. ↑ First class of women admitted to Harvard Medical School, 1945 (Report). Countway Repository, Harvard University Library. Archived from the original on June 23, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  14. 1 2 Soucheray, Stephanie. "A friendship endures from Yale to Harvard". Yale School of Medicine. Archived from the original on January 29, 2022. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  15. ↑ Nolen, LaShyra "Lash" (May 11, 2020). "Being a 'First' Is My Great Honor. But It's Not Enough". Teen Vogue. Archived from the original on June 11, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Six Charged With Trafficking In Stolen Human Remains" United States Attorney's Office, June 14, 2023. Retrieved January 20, 2024.
  17. 1 2 "Harvard urges judge to toss families' lawsuits over morgue scandal" Nate Raymond, Reuters, January 19, 2024. Retrieved January 20, 2024.
  18. ↑ "MD Program". meded.hms.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  19. ↑ "Admissions at a Glance". meded.hms.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on January 27, 2019. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
  20. ↑ "Harvard University". usnews.com. U.S. News & World Report . Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  21. ↑ "PhD Degree Programs". hms.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on July 9, 2020. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  22. ↑ "Harvard Integrated Life Sciences". gsas.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on July 7, 2020. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  23. ↑ "Master's Degree Programs". hms.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on July 7, 2020. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  24. ↑ "Certificate Programs". postgraduateeducation.hms.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  25. ↑ "FAQs". postgraduateeducation.hms.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on February 6, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  26. ↑ "Pathways". meded.hms.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
  27. ↑ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine". nobelprize.org. The Nobel Foundation . Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  28. ↑ "Nobel laureates and their medical schools: who selected whom? | Table 2". ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. National Library of Medicine . Retrieved August 16, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.