Alumni Association

School Of Medicine History

A special thanks to C. Hilmon Castle, M.D. for providing this information. Please contact Dr. Castle directly for corrections or additions. (801) 328-8644


1905-06

  • Two year medical courses began in the Department of Biology with 14 students under Dean Ralph Chamberlain, Ph.D.

1907

  • Two-year ill-fated experiment that placed the medical course in the College of Arts and Sciences under Dean Byron Cummings, A.M. Chamberlain resigned as Dean of the medical program.
  • State Legislature passed a law that "provided the medical program the unclaimed dead bodies of prisoners for use in medical instructions.

1909

  • Medical program removed from the College of Arts and Sciences as required by accreditation bodies.
  • Entrance requirements for students to enter the medical program established: one year of basic sciences in college and reading knowledge of French or German.

1912

  • Medical program established as a separate two-year Medical School that became a member of the American Association of Medical Schools (AAMC) and the American Medical Association (AMA) Council of Medical Education.

1916

  • School of Pharmacy established.

1917-1919

  • USA involvement in World War I intervened.

1919

  • Building originally built as the R.O.T.C. barracks acquired by the medical school and in 1924 the attic was remodeled for laboratories and in 1939 an extension was added.

1924

  • Premedical requirements increased to three years of college.

1935

  • Medical School Alumni Association organized.

1941-1945

  • World War II intervened.

1942

  • The two-year medical program, from 1906 until 1942, graduated 548 that transferred out of state to four-year medical schools to complete their requirements for a medical degree.
  • Dr. Weiskotton from the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Medical Association visited (March) and recommended conversion to a four-year medical school.
  • University of Utah Board of Regents approved a four-year medical school in May and appointed A. Cyril Callister, M.D. as Dean in July.
  • Agreement with the Salt Lake County to use the county hospital on 21st South and State Street for teaching in exchange for care of county patients at no cost to the county.
  • Medical students were accepted (September) for their third year.

1942-1945

  • First wave of new full-time faculty joined the medical school to create new academic departments and strengthen existing departments. These early pioneers were Louis Gebhardt, Phillip Price, M.M. Wintrobe, Louis Dipple, John A. Anderson, Charles E. McLennan, Leo Samuels, Louis Goodman, Horace Davenport, Francis Gunn, Hans H. Hecht and Val Jager. Many more followed soon thereafter to join them.

1943

  • Clinical appointments of practicing physicians to serve as teachers.

1944

  • Residency training program in Medicine started.

1945

  • Residency training in Pediatrics began.
  • First research grant of $ 100,000 provided by the U.S. Public Health Service to the medical school to study genetic diseases with Dr. Wintrobe as the Principle Investigator.

1946

  • Affiliation with the Veterans Administration Hospital for teaching medical students and residents in training.
  • Residency training in General Surgery.
  • Residency training in Obstetrics/Gynecology started.

1948

  • Medical School awarded $ 416,400 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study cancer.

1949

  • Through the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education Utah began accepting medical students from other Intermountain states.

1951

  • Residency training program in Psychiatry started.
  • Cancer Research Building opened on the University campus.

1953

  • Utah medical school reported 75 fulltime and 220 clinical faculty.

1955

  • U.S. Public Health Service awarded the medical school $1.5 million for research.
  • Business Bureau reported for every one dollar invested in the medical school by Utah, three dollars were generated for the economy. By 2005 for every dollar provided by the state, nine dollars were generated.
  • Residency training in Anesthesiology.

1958

  • Residency in Neurology started by Leonard Jarcho, M.D.

1959

  • Division of Postgraduate Medical Education established with C. Hilmon Castle, M.D. as Director.

1960

  • Reported 126 full-time and 325 clinical faculty members.
  • Residency in Pathology began.

1963

  • Clinical Research Center (CRC) funded by NIH was established at the Salt Lake County Hospital with Frank Tyler, M.D. as Director. The CRC was moved to the UH when it opened in July 1965. James Kushner, M.D. appointed Director in 1986.
  • Residency in Otolaryngology started.

1965

  • University Hospital with 220 beds combined with the medical school that cost $15.6 millions opened in July on the University campus to begin building a Health Sciences Center.

1966

  • Intermountain Regional Program for Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke funded by NIH established with C. Hilmon Castle, M.D. as Coordinator 1966-71. Then Robert Satovick, M.D. served as Coordinator from 1971-73.

1967

  • Residency in Neurosurgery approved with Ted Roberts, M.D. as Director.
  • Medical Library opened in the basement of the medical school with Pricilla Mayden, M.S. as Director 1967-84. The Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library was dedicated in 1971. Wayne J. Peay, M.S. became Director in 1984.

1968

  • Residency in Surgery extended into community hospitals with medical directors: John Dixon, M.D. for McKay-Dee; Charles Smart, M.D. for LDS; Dom Albo, M.D. for Holy Cross.

1969

  • Residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation by James Swensen, M.D.
  • Residency training program in orthopedics started by Sherman Coleman, M.D.
  • The Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute (CVRTI) established with J. A. Abildskov, M.D. as its first Director.

1970

  • Department of Family and Community Medicine created, later changed to Family & Preventive Medicine (DFPM) with C. Hilmon Castle, M.D. as the chairman 1970-84.

1971

  • Family Practice residency initiated at the McKay Hospital in Ogden and the Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City.
  • Physician Assistant training program started in DFPM. By 2005 the program had progressed to a 27-month masters degree program.

1972

  • Department of Biophysics and Computing established by Homer Warner, M.D., Ph.D., first in the country.  In 1985 changed to Medical Informatics and in 2006 to Biomedical Informatics.

1973

  • Public Health Program in the DFPM began in 1973 with a Master's of Science in Community Medicine (MSCM) under the supervision of Robert Kane, M.D., MSCM. Subsequently, additional degrees offered: Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) in 1984, Doctorate in Public Health (Dr.P.H.) in 2001.

1977

  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute established at the University Medical Center.

1985

  • Department of Human Genetics established with Ray Gesteland, Ph.D. and Ray White, Ph.D. as co-chairmen.

1988

  • NIH provided $ 7.5 million grant to study the structure and nature of human genes with Ray White, Ph.D. as the principle investigator.
  • Division of Human Development & Aging established by Gerald Rothstein, M.D.

1989

  • Medical Ethics Division established in the Dept. of Medicine to accommodate the ethics program initiated for the Health Sciences Center by Jay A. Jacobson, M.D.

1990

  • The George S. Eccles and Delores Dore Eccles Institute of Human Genetics building dedicated.
  • Human Molecular Biology and Genetics Program established with Stephen Prescott, M.D. as Director. Guy Zimmerman, M.D., Ph.D. appointed Director 1999.

1991

  • Geriatrics Research, Education & Clinical Center established at the V.A. hospital Gerald Rothstein, M.D., Director. Mark Supiano, M.D. appointed Director in 2005.

1995

  • Division of Orthopedics became the Department of Orthopedics chaired by Harold Dunn, M.D.

1999

  • Jon Huntsman Cancer Institute opened with Ray White, Ph.D., Director. Stephen Prescott, M.D, Director 2000-2005. Randall Burt, M.D. Acting Director 2005-

2003

  • Brain Institute developed. Executive Director: Thomas N. Parks, Ph.D.

2005

  • Spencer F. and Cleone Eccles Health Sciences Education Building opened.