Harvard Medical School
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Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the
medical school 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, ...
of
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
and is located in the
Longwood Medical Area The Longwood Medical and Academic Area, also known as Longwood Medical Area, LMA, or simply Longwood, is a medical campus in Boston, Massachusetts. Flanking Longwood Avenue, LMA is adjacent to the Fenway–Kenmore, Audubon Circle, and Mission ...
in
Boston 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 ...
,
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the United States. It provides patient care, medical education, and research training through its 15 clinical affiliates and research institutes, including
Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is a teaching hospital located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the original and largest clinical education and research facility of Harvard Medical School/Harvar ...
(MGH),
Boston Children's Hospital Boston Children's Hospital (formerly known as Children's Hospital Boston until 2013) is the main pediatric training and research hospital of Harvard Medical School, Harvard University. It is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care children ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, Massachusetts is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and one of the founding members of Beth Israel Lahey Health. It was formed out of the 1996 merger of Beth Israel Hospital (f ...
,
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 ...
,
McLean Hospital McLean Hospital () (formerly known as Somerville Asylum and Charlestown Asylum) is a psychiatric hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. McLean maintains the world's largest neuroscientific and psychiatric research program in a private hospital. It i ...
,
Cambridge Health Alliance Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) is a healthcare provider in Cambridge, Somerville and Boston's metro-north communities in Massachusetts. CHA offers services including primary care, specialty care, and mental health/substance use services. It incl ...
, The Baker Center for Children and Families,
Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital The Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital is a 132-bed rehabilitation teaching hospital located in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the official teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the ...
, and others. 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 The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering (pronounced "veese") is a cross-disciplinary research institute at Harvard University focused on bridging the gap between academia and industry (translational medicine) by drawing inspirat ...
.


History

Harvard Medical School was founded on September 19, 1782, on the initiative of Harvard President
Joseph Willard Joseph Willard (December 29, 1738 – September 25, 1804) was an American Congregational clergyman and academic. He was president of Harvard from 1781 until 1804. Biography Willard was born December 29, 1738, in Biddeford, York County (at ...
. The founding faculty were
John Warren John Warren may refer to: Entertainment * John F. Warren (1909–2000), American cinematographer * John Warren (actor) (1916–1977), British screenwriter and actor * John Warren (musician) (born 1938), Canadian baritone saxophonist and compose ...
, Aaron Dexter, and
Benjamin Waterhouse Benjamin Waterhouse (March 4, 1754 – October 2, 1846) was a physician, co-founder and professor of Harvard Medical School. He is most well known for being the first doctor to test the smallpox vaccine in the United States, which he carried ou ...
. It is the third-oldest medical school in the United States, after the
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania The Perelman School of Medicine (commonly known as Penn Med) is the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, a Private university, private, Ivy League research university located in Philadelphia. Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of M ...
and
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons The Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (officially known as Columbia University Roy and Diana Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons) is the medical school of Columbia University, located at the Columbia University Irvin ...
. Lectures were first held in the basement of
Harvard Hall Harvard Hall is a Harvard University classroom building in Harvard Yard, Cambridge, Massachusetts. First Harvard Hall The present Harvard Hall replaces an earlier structure of the same name on the same site. The first Harvard Hall was built be ...
, then in
Holden Chapel Holden Chapel is a small building in Harvard Yard on the campus of Harvard University. Completed in 1744, it is the third oldest building at Harvard and one of the oldest college buildings in America. Early history In December 1741, Mrs. Samuel H ...
. Students paid no tuition but purchased tickets to five or six daily lectures. The first two students graduated in 1788. 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. In 1810, the school moved to
Boston 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 ...
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 Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is a teaching hospital located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the original and largest clinical education and research facility of Harvard Medical School/Harvar ...
. In 1883, the school was relocated to Copley Square. Before this move,
Charles William Eliot Charles William Eliot (March 20, 1834 – August 22, 1926) was an American academic who was president of Harvard University from 1869 to 1909, the longest term of any Harvard president. A member of the prominent Eliot family (America), Eliot fam ...
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. In 1906, the school moved to its present location in the
Longwood Medical and Academic Area The Longwood Medical and Academic Area, also known as Longwood Medical Area, LMA, or simply Longwood, is a medical campus in Boston, Massachusetts. Flanking Longwood Avenue, LMA is adjacent to the Fenway–Kenmore, Audubon Circle, and Mission ...
.


Innovations

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


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 The President and Fellows of Harvard College, also called the Harvard Corporation or just the Corporation, is the smaller and more powerful of Harvard University's two governing boards. It refers to itself as the oldest corporation in the Western ...
. That year Harriot Hunt became the first woman to apply to Harvard Medical School. Dr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (; August 29, 1809 – October 7, 1894) was an American physician, poet, and polymath based in Boston. Grouped among the fireside poets, he was acclaimed by his peers as one of the best writers of the day. His most ...
had recently been made Dean of the school and initially considered accepting her application. He was heavily criticized by the all-male student body as well as the university overseers and other faculty members, and she was asked to withdraw her application. Shortly after
Elizabeth Blackwell Elizabeth Blackwell (3 February 182131 May 1910) was an English-American physician, notable as the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States, and the first woman on the Medical Register of the General Medical Council for the Un ...
's graduation from
Geneva College Geneva College is a private Christian college in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1848 in Northwood, Ohio, the college moved to its present location in 1880. It enrolls about 1,400 undergraduates in over 30 majors, as wel ...
in 1849, Hunt applied to Harvard again, but was denied. 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 Susan Dimock (April 24, 1847May 7, 1875) was an American physician who earned her medical degree from the University of Zurich in 1871 and was subsequently appointed resident physician of the New England Hospital for Women and Children in 1872. ...
. 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 Marie Elisabeth Zakrzewska (6 September 1829 – 12 May 1902) was a Polish-American physician who made her name as a pioneering female doctor in the United States. As a Berlin native, she found great interest in medicine after assisting her mothe ...
, 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 Henry Ingersoll Bowditch (August 9, 1808 – January 14, 1892) was an American physician and a prominent Christian abolitionist. Bowditch was born on August 9, 1808, in Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Bowditch, a renowned mathematician. He gra ...
'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. 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. By 1972, about one-fifth of Harvard medical students were women.


African Americans

In 1850, three black men,
Martin Delany Martin Robison Delany (May 6, 1812January 24, 1885) was an American abolitionist, journalist, physician, military officer and writer who was arguably the first proponent of black nationalism. Delany is credited with the Pan-African slogan of "Af ...
,
Daniel Laing Jr. Daniel Laing Jr. (1824 - 1869) was a doctor in the United States and Liberia. He was one of the first African-American physicians in the United States. Biography Laing was born a free black in Boston. He tried to make a living as an independent ...
, 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. In 2011, HMS appointed its first African American full professor of medicine, Valerie E. Stone. That year they also appointed their first African-American professor of
radiology Radiology ( ) is the medical specialty that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide treatment within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiation), but tod ...
, Stone's former classmate Tina Young Poussaint. In 2019,
LaShyra Nolen LaShyra "Lash" Nolen (born 1995) is an American medical student and science communicator. She is the first Black woman to become class president of the Harvard Medical School. In 2020, Nolen was selected by ''The Root'' as one of their Young Futu ...
was the first black woman to be elected class president of Harvard Medical School.


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. Twelve lawsuits were subsequently filed against the school by families of Lodge's victims."Harvard urges judge to toss families' lawsuits over morgue scandal"
Nate Raymond, Reuters, January 19, 2024. Retrieved January 20, 2024.
On January 17, 2024, a lawyer representing Harvard urged Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Salinger to dismiss the lawsuits.


Medical education


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. 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 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 train ...
. 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 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...
. 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. 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%.


Rankings

For 2024, '' U.S. News & World Report'' did not rank Harvard Medical School due to its official withdrawal from the USNWR. For 2023, Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research reported that Harvard Medical School is No. 43 in Research.


Graduate education


PhD degree programs

There are nine PhD programs based in Harvard Medical School. 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.


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.


Postgraduate certificate programs

Harvard Medical School offers several Postgraduate Certificate programs. 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.


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. 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. It has trained more Nobel Prize winners in Medicine and Physiology than any other medical school.


See also

*
Boston Medical Library The Boston Medical Library, founded in 1875 in Boston, Massachusetts, was originally organized to alleviate the problem of scattered distribution of medical texts throughout Boston. It has since evolved into the "largest academic medical library ...
*
Harvard School of Dental Medicine 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 train ...
*
List of Harvard University people The list of Harvard University alumni includes notable graduates, professors, and administrators affiliated with Harvard University. For a list of notable non-graduates of Harvard, see the list of Harvard University non-graduate alumni. For ...
*
Warren Anatomical Museum The Warren Anatomical Museum, housed within Harvard Medical School's Countway Library of Medicine, was founded in 1847 by Harvard professor John Collins Warren (surgeon, born 1778), John Collins Warren, whose personal collection of 160 unusual a ...


References


External links

* {{Authority control 1782 establishments in Massachusetts
Medical School 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, ...
Ivy League medical schools Medical schools in Massachusetts University subdivisions in Massachusetts