Drexel University College of Medicine Timeline

1800s

Female Medical College of Pennsylvania 1848

1848

Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania is established; later renamed Hahnemann Medical College.

1850

Female Medical College of Pennsylvania is established in the same building; later renamed Woman's Medical College (WMC).

Ann Preston 1865

1865

A graduate of the first class, Ann Preston becomes dean of Female Medical College of Pennsylvania and the first woman medical school dean in the world.

Thomas Creigh Imes 1884

1884

Thomas Creigh Imes becomes the first known African American Hahnemann graduate.

Susan La Flesche Picotte 1889

1889

Susan La Flesche Picotte graduates from Woman's Medical College, the first Native American to earn a medical degree.

1891

Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry is founded.

1897

Eliza Grier, born into slavery, graduates from Woman's Medical College, becoming one of the nation’s early female African American doctors.

1900s

1938

Catharine Macfarlane, WMC 1898, establishes one of the first uterine cancer screening programs in the nation.

Hahnemann Female Students

1941

Hahnemann admits its first female students.

1949

Formal programs of graduate education are first offered through the Graduate School of the Basic Medical Sciences, renamed the Graduate School in 1972.

Time Magazine cover

1957

Charles Philamore Bailey, MD, Hahnemann ’32, appears on the cover of Time magazine for his innovative work in cardiac surgery, including the first closed-heart repair of stenosis of the mitral valve.

1959

The last teacher of homeopathy, Garth Boericke, retires, ending the remaining homeopathy course at the school.

Medical College of Pennsylvania

1970

Drexel Institute becomes Drexel University.

Woman's Medical College changes its name to Medical College of Pennsylvania (MCP) and becomes co-ed.

1976

MCP launches the Medical Humanities program (then known as the Teaching Program in Human Values in Medicine), one of the first of its kind.

1981

Hahnemann Medical College gains university status as Hahnemann University.

1988

MCP and its affiliate hospitals join Allegheny Health System.

Hahnemann University

1993

Hahnemann joins Allegheny Health System. The two medical schools are merged and named MCP Hahnemann University School of Medicine, forming the largest private medical school in the country.

1993

The Women’s Health Education Program, the first women’s health curriculum in a U.S. medical school, is launched at MCP, and the Institute for Women’s Health & Leadership is established. In 2022, it is renamed the Lynn Yeakel Institute for Women’s Health & Leadership to honor Lynn H. Yeakel’s visionary leadership and legacy.

black and white photo of the ELAM class of 1996

1995

The Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) program for women accepts its first class of 25 fellows. Today, ELAM has more than 1,500 alumnae in high-level leadership positions at 300 health institutions around the country.

1998

Tenet Healthcare Corporation acquires Allegheny’s hospitals; Drexel University agrees to operate the colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health under the name MCP Hahnemann University.

2000s

2002

MCP Hahnemann University School of Medicine becomes Drexel University College of Medicine.

Biomed students look through microscopes

2013

The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies is established.

Saint Christopher's Hospital for Children

2019

Drexel University and Tower Health complete the acquisition of St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, a longstanding pediatric academic campus of Drexel University College of Medicine.

West Reading Regional Medical Building

2021

Drexel and Tower Health open a four-year regional medical campus in West Reading, welcoming the inaugural class of 40 students.

Drexel Health Sciences Building

2023

The MD program moves to its new home in the Health Sciences Building on Drexel’s University City Campus, joining students from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies and the College of Nursing and Health Professions.

 
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