Rush University Medical Center (Rush) is an academic medical center in the Illinois Medical District neighborhood of

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. It is the flagship hospital for the Rush University System for Health, which includes Rush Oak Park Hospital and Rush Copley Medical Center, and serves as the primary teaching hospital in affiliation with Rush University.

History

Rush Medical College Rush Medical College is the medical school of Rush University, located in the Illinois Medical District, about 3 km (2 miles) west of the Loop in Chicago. Offering a full-time Doctor of Medicine program, the school was chartered in 1837, a ...

was chartered on March 2, 1837, two days before the city of Chicago was chartered. The college opened with 22 students on December 4, 1843. It was Chicago's first health care institution and one of the few medical schools west of the Alleghenies. Its founder, Daniel Brainard, named the school in honor of

Benjamin Rush Benjamin Rush (April 19, 1813) was a Founding Father of the United States who signed the United States Declaration of Independence, and a civic leader in Philadelphia, where he was a physician, politician, social reformer, humanitarian, educa ...

, the only physician with medical school training to sign the Declaration of Independence, who later taught

Meriwether Lewis Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, wit ...

basic medical skills for his expedition with

William Clark William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838) was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Miss ...

to the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Thou ...

. The general hospital associated with the medical college was the first in Chicago. The Presbyterian Hospital of the City of Chicago (Front)

The early Rush faculty, well known across the American frontier for its expertise, engaged in patient care, research and teaching, and was associated with a number of scientific developments and new clinical procedures. As the city grew, so did Rush's involvement with other developing institutions: St. Luke's Hospital, established in 1864; Presbyterian Hospital, begun at the urging of the Rush faculty in 1883; and the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, with which

was affiliated and later united from 1898 to 1942. In the early 1940s, Rush discontinued undergraduate education, but its library was maintained and its faculty continued to teach at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...

School of Medicine. In 1969, Rush Medical College reactivated its charter and merged with Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital, which itself had been formed through merger in 1956, to form Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center. Rush University, which now includes colleges of medicine, nursing, health sciences and research training, was established in 1972. The Medical Center officially changed its name in September 2003 to Rush University Medical Center, to reflect the important role education and research play in its patient care mission. In early 2021, management from both Lurie Children's and Rush University Medical Center (RUMC) announced they were forming a pediatric alliance to better deliver pediatric care throughout the region. The alliance officially started on February 1, 2021, and aligns both inpatient and outpatient pediatric services at RUMC under the "Lurie Children's umbrella", known as "Lurie Children’s & Rush Advancing Children’s Health."

Services

Rush University Medical Center has 664 patient beds at its 14-story, 830,000-square-foot location on Chicago's Near West Side. The hospital is known for its butterfly-shaped tower, designed to handle mass casualty events. Rush offers more than 70 residency and fellowship programs in medical and surgical specialties and subspecialties. It is also the largest nongovernmental employer on Chicago's near West Side, with nearly 10,000 employees and annual spending of over $550 million.

Road Home Program

Rush University Medical Center established the Road Home Program in 2014. The program focuses on mental health treatment for veterans suffering from

posttraumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threat ...

(PTSD),

traumatic brain injury A traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as an intracranial injury, is an injury to the brain caused by an external force. TBI can be classified based on severity (ranging from mild traumatic brain injury TBI/concussionto severe traumatic br ...

(TBI) and related illnesses. In 2015, the Road Home Program was selected as a founding partner of

Warrior Care Network Warrior Care Network is a national health system of PTSD treatment centers that provide care, travel and accommodations at no cost for United States veterans and their families. Treatment consists of intensive outpatient care, mainly focusing on PT ...

, along with

UCLA Health UCLA Health is a health system which comprises a number of hospitals, the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and an extensive primary care network in the Los Angeles region. As a regional health provider, it benefits from the academic affil ...

Operation Mend,

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

Home Base,

Emory Healthcare Emory Healthcare is a health care system in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is part of Emory University and is the largest health care system in the state. It comprises 11 hospitals, the Emory Clinic and more than 250 provider locations. Establi ...

Veterans Program and Wounded Warrior Project. The Medical Center has a $581.8 million (2020) endowment.

Rankings

In 2021, ''U.S. News & World Report'' ranke
Rush University Medical Center No. 19 in the U.S.
No. 2 in Illinois and No. 2 in Chicago metro area in terms of hospital rankings. Nine hospital-based specialties were ranked among the best in the country, including the following: *

Neurology Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal ...

and

neurosurgery Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and pe ...

(No. 3) *

Orthopedics Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

(No. 6) *

Geriatrics Geriatrics, or geriatric medicine, is a medical specialty focused on providing care for the unique health needs of older adults. The term ''geriatrics'' originates from the Greek γέρων ''geron'' meaning "old man", and ιατρός ''iatros ...

(No. 16) *

Gynecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences, spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with ...

(No. 20) *

Gastroenterology Gastroenterology (from the Greek gastḗr- “belly”, -énteron “intestine”, and -logía "study of") is the branch of medicine focused on the digestive system and its disorders. The digestive system consists of the gastrointestinal tract ...

and GI surgery (No. 21) *

Pulmonary The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of ...

care and

lung The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of ...

surgery (No. 28) *

Cardiology Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular h ...

(No. 33) *

Cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

(No. 42) * Ear, nose and throat (No. 45)

References

{{authority control Hospitals in Chicago Hospitals established in 1837 Teaching hospitals in Illinois 1837 establishments in Illinois Rush University Rush Medical College