Page 2 - School of Medicine and Dentistry Timeline | University of Rochester Medical Center

A ief history
George Hoyt Whipple and
Abraham Flexner, 1954
ON THE COVER:
Clockwise, from top left: School of
Medicine department chairs 1925;
University President Rush Rhees laying
the medical school's cornerstone;
original bronze plaque now located in
a corridor in the Miner Library; Strong
Memorial Hospital entrance 1930;
original lobby of Strong Memorial
Hospital 1926 (now the Miner Library
reading room); and George Whipple
addresses medical staff 1926, in an
auditorium later named after him.
The School of Medicine and Dentistry
In 1910, Abraham Flexner, under the auspices of the The medical school opened in 1925 and Strong Memorial
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Hospital opened its doors as a 250-bed community facility
published a report on medical schools that led to a in 1926. The University of Rochester School of Medicine
revolution in how medicine was taught across the country. and Dentistry graduated its first class in 1929.
By 1920, Flexner approached Dr. Benjamin Rush Rhees, Whipple’s vision, built on the philanthropy of George
then president of the University of Rochester, with the Eastman, was a school and a hospital under one roof that
idea of establishing a medical school at the university integrated basic science and clinical practice. Today, that
that would utilize his revolutionary ideals in medical concept of physically integrating patient care and academics
education. Flexner and Rhees then approached George under one roof is still going strong.
Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak, to help back the Students in the School are educated by the Double Helix
idea financially. Additional monies came from the General
Curriculum, integrating the basic science and clinical
Education Board of the Rockefeller Foundation and the
daughters of the late Henry Alvah Strong, former business medicine strands of medical education and weaving them
partner to George Eastman, to build a university, medical throughout the four-year curriculum.
school, and hospital on land located on the southern The School of Medicine and Dentistry transformed the
boundaries of the City of Rochester near the banks of the future of medicine in Rochester and nationwide when it
Genesee River. created the biopsychosocial model of education. Developed
by Drs. George Engel and John Romano, this method
The first dean of the medical school, Nobel Laureate
systematically considers biological, psychological, and social
George Hoyt Whipple, M.D., came to Rochester in
factors and their complex interactions in understanding
1921, recruited from the University of California at San
health, illness, and health care delivery.
Francisco. Whipple helped shape the school from its
inception, hiring faculty and staff and supervising the
design and construction of buildings.