Beth Israel Hospital (Boston)
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Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in
Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
is a
teaching hospital A teaching hospital or university hospital is a hospital or medical center that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities a ...
of
Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...
and one of the founding members of
Beth Israel Lahey Health Beth Israel Lahey Health (BILH) is a Non-profit hospital, non-profit Integrated care, integrated health system based in Massachusetts, with locations in New Hampshire. Formed through the 2019 Mergers and acquisitions, merger of two large Mass ...
. It was formed out of the 1996 merger of Beth Israel Hospital (founded in 1916 by the Jewish community) and New England Deaconess Hospital (founded in 1896 by Methodist
deaconess The ministry of a deaconess is a ministry for women in some Protestant, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Orthodox churches to provide pastoral care, especially for other women, and which may carry a liturgical role. The word comes from the Greek ...
es). Among independent teaching hospitals, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has ranked in the top three recipients of biomedical research funding from the
National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...
. Research funding totals nearly $200 million annually. BIDMC researchers run more than 850 active sponsored projects and 200 clinical trials. The Harvard-Thorndike General Clinical Research Center, the oldest clinical research laboratory in the United States, has been located on this site since 1973.


Overview

BIDMC is one of the largest hospitals in
New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
, is affiliated with
Joslin Diabetes Center Joslin Diabetes Center is the world's largest diabetes research center, diabetes clinic, and provider of diabetes education. It is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Among the Harvard Med ...
and is a research partner of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, the largest cancer institution in the country. The hospital is part of the Boston MedFlight consortium and supports a
Level I trauma center A trauma center, or trauma centre, is a hospital equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major trauma, major traumatic injuries such as Falling (accident), falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot wounds. The term "tra ...
through the use of its rooftop
helipad A helipad is the landing area of a heliport, in use by helicopters, powered lift, and vertical lift aircraft to land on surface. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fa ...
. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has affiliates in the Boston-area towns of Needham, Milton, Plymouth, Chestnut Hill, Chelsea and Lexington, as well as through numerous primary care practices and community health centers. BIDMC is the official hospital of the
Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...
. Under the 32-year leadership of Mitchell T. Rabkin, it was the first hospital in the nation to create and adopt a Patient Bill of Rights. Peter J. Healy joined Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center as president in 2017.


History

New England Deaconess Hospital was founded In 1896 by Methodist
deaconess The ministry of a deaconess is a ministry for women in some Protestant, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Orthodox churches to provide pastoral care, especially for other women, and which may carry a liturgical role. The word comes from the Greek ...
es to care for Boston's residents. The revival of the office of the Christian deaconess, which started in Germany in 1836, was spurred by a group of Christian women dedicating themselves to the care of the sick and the poor. The first 14-bed infirmary was opened in a converted five-story
brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Ty ...
at 691 Massachusetts Avenue. Although the hospital was originally staffed by the Deaconesses, in 1922 it added a permanent medical and surgical staff. In 1927, the New England Deaconess Association opened the Palmer Memorial Hospital, a cancer treatment facility. During the 1960s, Deaconess' residency programs gained accreditation and it affiliated with
Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...
. Deaconess had a leading role in the early studies of the cause, course and treatment of AIDS. Deaconess was also a pioneer in organ transplantation and immunological research. During an era of religious separatism and anti-Semitism, Boston's Jewish community founded Beth Israel Hospital in 1916 to meet the needs of the growing Jewish immigrant population. Its first hospital on Townsend Street in Roxbury held 45 beds. The new hospital addressed the needs of immigrants who spoke
Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
without speaking English and for patients who kept a kosher diet. In 1928, Beth Israel established relationships with
Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...
and the
Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...
and relocated to a new facility in the Longwood area of Boston. During the Depression, Beth Israel was one of only two hospitals in Boston that treated welfare recipients. Researchers at Beth Israel discovered
vascular endothelial growth factor Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF, ), originally known as vascular permeability factor (VPF), is a signal protein produced by many cells that stimulates the formation of blood vessels. To be specific, VEGF is a sub-family of growth factors ...
(VEGF) in 1983. The two neighboring hospitals merged in 1996, continuing the patient care, educational and research components of both predecessors. In 2003, BIDMC researchers identified the source of
preeclampsia Pre-eclampsia is a multi-system disorder specific to pregnancy, characterized by the new onset of high blood pressure and often a significant amount of protein in the urine or by the new onset of high blood pressure along with significant end- ...
, a life-threatening complication of pregnancy. In January 2014, Jordan Hospital joined the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center family of hospitals and became Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth. It was founded in 1899 when a group of leading citizens from Plymouth saw a need to build a hospital to serve residents and pursued the idea of "a hospital on the hill". They approached retail tycoon, philanthropist, and summer resident Eben Jordan of the Jordan Marsh & Company who donated $20,000 to build was to become Jordan Hospital. In December 1903, Jordan Hospital opened its doors to the first patients and has remained a community hospital ever since. It remains a private, not-for-profit hospital serving the communities of Bourne, Carver, Duxbury, Halifax, Kingston, Lakeville, Pembroke, Plympton, Plymouth, Marshfield, Middleboro, Sandwich and Wareham.


Boston Marathon Bombing

BIDMC received and cared for 21 victims of the April 2013
Boston Marathon bombing The Boston Marathon bombing, sometimes referred to as simply the Boston bombing, was an Islamist domestic terrorist attack that took place during the 117th annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarna ...
, as well as receiving
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Dzhokhar Anzorovich "Jahar" Tsarnaev (born July 22, 1993) is an American domestic terrorist of Chechen and Avar descent who, along with his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted pressure cooker bombs near the finish line of the Boston Ma ...
after he was arrested by police. Of the 21 victims received, 17 had serious injuries and seven required emergency surgery.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev Tamerlan Anzorovich Tsarnaev (; October 21, 1986 – April 19, 2013) ; ; ; was a Russian-born terrorist of Chechens, Chechen and Avars (Caucasus), Avar descent who, with his younger brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, planted pressure cooker bombs at ...
was also brought to BIDMC where attempts were made to resuscitate him, and where he was ultimately pronounced dead.


Merger with Lahey Hospital & Medical Center

In January 2017, ''
The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'' reported of a letter of intent for a
merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...
between Beth Israel Deaconess and
Lahey Hospital & Medical Center The Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, formerly known as the Lahey Clinic, is a physician-led nonprofit teaching hospital of UMass Chan Medical School based in Burlington, Massachusetts. The hospital was founded in Boston in 1923 by surgeon Frank ...
with this partnership creating the largest hospital merger in more than 20 years. The combined system would be counteraction to
Partners HealthCare Mass General Brigham (MGB) (formerly Partners HealthCare) is a not-for-profit, integrated health care system that engages in medical research, teaching, and patient care. It is the largest hospital-based research enterprise in the United States, ...
, Massachusetts' largest network of hospitals and doctors with a market share of 22% in the eastern part of the state. In December 2017, a group called the Make Healthcare Affordable Coalition came out in opposition to the proposed merger of Lahey Health and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center stating that the "mega merger" would lead to higher costs and the closing of health clinics serving minority communities. In March 2019, Beth Israel Lahey Health was formed by the merger of Lahey Health and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Beth Israel Lahey Health is composed of Addison Gilbert Hospital, Anna Jaques Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital—Milton, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital—Needham, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital—Plymouth, Beverly Hospital,
Lahey Hospital & Medical Center The Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, formerly known as the Lahey Clinic, is a physician-led nonprofit teaching hospital of UMass Chan Medical School based in Burlington, Massachusetts. The hospital was founded in Boston in 1923 by surgeon Frank ...
, Lahey Medical Center-Peabody,
Mount Auburn Hospital Mount Auburn Hospital (MAH) is a community hospital with a patient capacity of about 200 beds in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its main campus is located at 330 Mount Auburn St, in the neighborhood of West Cambridge (neighborhood), West Cambridge. I ...
, New England Baptist Hospital, and
Winchester Hospital Winchester Hospital located in Winchester, Massachusetts is a notable hospital in northwest suburb of the city of Boston, United States. It is affiliated with Beth Israel Lahey Health. The hospital provides inpatient service and integrated home ...
.


Partnership With Dana-Farber

In September 2023, the
Dana–Farber Cancer Institute Dana–Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) is a comprehensive cancer treatment and research center in Boston, Massachusetts. Dana-Farber is the founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard's Comprehensive Cancer Center designated ...
announced a new partnership with BIDMC and plans to build a new standalone hospital focused on treating adult cancer patients. This includes a departure from their current home and longtime affiliation with
Brigham and Women's Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH or The Brigham) is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two ...
, which had been recognized among U.S. News & World Report's top cancer care facilities for 23 consecutive years.


Structure

Since the Beth Israel–Deaconess merger, the hospital has consisted of two campuses, the East (former Beth Israel) and the West (former Deaconess). The East Campus retained most primary care, outpatient, clinical and administrative functions, while the emergency department, inpatient care, the department of human resources, and many specialists are located on the West Campus. The medical center has more than 6,000 full-time employees. The merger coincided with the completion of the ten-story Clinical Center, located at the corner of Brookline and Longwood Avenues, in space formerly occupied by the
Massachusetts College of Art Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a public college of visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation's oldest art schools, and the only publicly funded independent art sch ...
. The Clinical Center houses most of the hospital's outpatient services. The East Campus is located at 330 Brookline Avenue in the Longwood Medical Area. The nation's oldest clinical research laboratory, the Harvard–Thorndike Laboratory, has been at this site since 1973. The West Campus is nearly diagonally across the street, at 1 Deaconess Road. A number of other non-clinical, administrative offices (e.g. payroll, accounts payable, telecommunications) are located offsite in offices scattered throughout the area.


Major affiliates

* One of the
teaching hospital A teaching hospital or university hospital is a hospital or medical center that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities a ...
s of
Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...
* Affiliated with
Joslin Diabetes Center Joslin Diabetes Center is the world's largest diabetes research center, diabetes clinic, and provider of diabetes education. It is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Among the Harvard Med ...
* Research partner of the Dana-Farber Harvard Cancer Center * Level I
trauma center A trauma center, or trauma centre, is a hospital equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major traumatic injuries such as falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot wounds. The term "trauma center" may be used incorr ...
verified by the American College of Surgeons * Part of the consortium of hospitals which operates Boston MedFlight * In 2003 the institution formed a partnership with the
Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...
, becoming the official hospital of the team


In popular culture

A stylized version of Beth Israel Hospital serves as the setting for the novel '' The House of God'', a satirical account of one physician's training in the Harvard medical system in the 1970s. The hospital's
intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensive care medicine. An inten ...
served as the basis and subject of Frederick Wiseman's 1989 documentary ''Near Death''. The film explores the "complex interrelationships among patients, families, doctors, nurses, hospital staff, and religious advisors" as they are confronted with the implications of continuing life-sustaining treatment on individual patients approaching the end of their lives. It is Wiseman's longest documentary at a length of six hours, and is regarded as one of the longest cinematic films of all time.


Notable faculty and alumni

* James B. Aguayo-Martel, MD, MPH, developer of MR microscopy and deuterium spectroscopy * Stephen Bergman, author of '' The House of God'' * William Dameshek, MD, a pioneering hematologist, founder of the journal Blood, and founder of the American Society of Hematology * Sanjiv Chopra, MD, MACP, Professor of Medicine and Faculty Dean for Continuing Medical Education at
Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...
, Senior Consultant in
Hepatology Hepatology is the branch of medicine that incorporates the study of liver, gallbladder, biliary tree, and pancreas as well as management of their disorders. Although traditionally considered a sub-specialty of gastroenterology, rapid expansion ...
at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center *
Ezekiel Emanuel Ezekiel Jonathan "Zeke" Emanuel (born September 6, 1957) is an American oncologist and bioethicist. He is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. He is the current Vice Provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania ...
, MD, PhD, bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania who was instrumental in developing the
Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...
* Jerome Groopman, chief of experimental medicine, author of '' Anatomy of Hope'', '' How Doctors Think'' *
Mark Josephson Mark E. Josephson (1943-2017) was an American cardiologist and writer, who was in the 1970s one of the American pioneers of the medical cardiology subspecialty of cardiac electrophysiology. His book titled ''Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology: T ...
, chairman of cardiology, one of the most influential figures in the history of electrophysiology * Roderick MacKinnon, 2003
Nobel Prize in Chemistry The Nobel Prize in Chemistry () is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outst ...
"for structural and mechanistic studies of ion channels" * Godwin Maduka, MD and founder of Las Vegas Pain Institute and Medical Center * Joel Mark Noe, MD, pioneering reconstructive plastic surgeon who, in 1977, created the burn unit and
argon laser An ion laser is a gas laser that uses an ionized gas as its lasing medium. Like other gas lasers, ion lasers feature a sealed cavity containing the laser medium and mirrors forming a Fabry–Pérot resonator. Unlike helium–neon lasers, the ...
program * Alvaro Pascual-Leone, MD, PhD, noted neuroscientist, one of the pioneers in the use of
transcranial magnetic stimulation Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive neurostimulation technique in which a changing magnetic field is used to induce an electric current in a targeted area of the brain through electromagnetic induction. A device called a st ...
and the director of Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation * John Rowe, former chief of geriatrics, CEO of
Aetna Aetna Inc. ( ) is an American managed health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services, such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans, ...
*
Chip Skowron use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates ...
, hedge fund portfolio manager convicted of insider trading *
Jill Stein Jill Ellen Stein (born May 14, 1950) is an American physician, activist, and perennial candidate who was the Green Party of the United States, Green Party's nominee for President of the United States in the Jill Stein 2012 presidential campaign ...
, MD, two-time presidential candidate *
Paul Zoll Paul Maurice Zoll (July 15, 1911 – January 5, 1999) was a Jewish American cardiologist and one of the pioneers in the development of the artificial cardiac pacemaker and cardiac defibrillator. Early life Zoll's parents were Hyman and Mollie Zo ...
, first to describe technique of electrical cardioversion in humans and eponym for the Zoll
defibrillator Defibrillation is a treatment for life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, specifically ventricular fibrillation (V-Fib) and non-perfusing ventricular tachycardia (V-Tach). Defibrillation delivers a dose of electric current (often called a ''count ...
*
Ralph de la Torre Ralph de la Torre is a Cuban Americans, Cuban American former Health administration, health care executive and Cardiac surgery, cardiac surgeon. The Chief executive officer, CEO of Steward Health Care System, Steward Health Care from 2010 to 20 ...
, MD, founder of BIDMC's CardioVasular Institute, later founder and current CEO of
Steward Health Care Steward Health Care was a large private for-profit hospital, for-profit health system headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It utilizes an integrated care model to deliver healthcare across its hospitals and primary care locations, as well as through ...
.


References

{{Authority control 1996 establishments in Massachusetts Harvard Medical School Hospitals established in 1996 Hospitals in Boston Jewish medical organizations Jews and Judaism in Boston Teaching hospitals in Massachusetts Trauma centers