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College of Medicine Alumni Magazine: Winter/Spring 2023 Celebrating Hahnemann’s History: 175 Years of Education, Innovation, Compassion and Care

1800 >

1842

1.8 acres are purchased on Broad Street between Race and Vine Streets for the medical school.

1867

A faculty rift results in a second school opening, Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia, with both schools existing simultaneously until 1869.

1869

The schools merge, retaining the Hahnemann name.

1882

Hahnemann anatomy class in 1882.

Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania opens at 625 Arch Street in Philadelphia, founded by Constantine Hering, Jacob Jeanes and Walter Williamson.

1848

Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania opens at 625 Arch Street in Philadelphia, founded by Constantine Hering, Jacob Jeanes and Walter Williamson. The college immediately opens a clinic to provide free care to the sick while offering clinical opportunities for students.

Hahnemann professor Rufus B. Weaver, MD, dissects the world’s first complete nervous system.

1888

Hahnemann professor Rufus B. Weaver, MD, dissects the world’s first complete nervous system. It later won a gold medal at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. See story.

Hahnemann opens its hospital-based nursing program, the Training School for Nurses.

1890

Hahnemann opens its hospital-based nursing program, the Training School for Nurses. Twenty students initially register for the two-year program.

1900 >

Hahnemann opens the country’s first school of X-ray technology.

1920

Hahnemann opens the country’s first school of X-ray technology.

Charles P. Bailey, MD, alumnus and chief of thoracic surgery, performs the world’s first successful closed-heart valvular surgery.

1948

The Cardiovascular Research Institute is organized at Hahnemann. Charles P. Bailey, MD, alumnus and chief of thoracic surgery, performs the world’s first successful closed-heart valvular surgery, the repair of a mitral valve. In 1957, Bailey is featured on the cover of Time magazine for his pioneering cardiac work.

Hahnemann Medical College admits its first female students.

1941

Hahnemann Medical College admits its first female students: Beatrice Troyan, Laura Winner, Anna Onorato, Gladys Rosenstein and Luisa Gonzalez-Quinones. Hispanic students form the student club El Circulo Hispano.

Hispanic students form the student club El Circulo Hispano.
Hahnemann’s new $2.3 million School of Nursing building, housing 230 students, opens at 15th and Race Streets.

1959

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

1963

Hahnemann’s new $2.3 million School of Nursing building, housing 230 students, opens at 15th and Race Streets. Hahnemann doctors perform the region’s first kidney transplant.

Hahnemann alumnus Walter P. Lomax, MD ’57, treats Martin Luther King Jr. for laryngitis.

1968

The College of Allied Health Professions is organized. Hahnemann alumnus Walter P. Lomax, MD ’57, treats Martin Luther King Jr. for laryngitis at King’s hotel room in Philadelphia.

New hospital building opens at the corner of North Broad & Vine Streets.

1979

New hospital building opens at the corner of North Broad & Vine Streets; it is dubbed the “North Tower” and has 225 patient rooms and an emergency health service center.

1981

Hahnemann Medical College gains university status as Hahnemann University.

Hahnemann opens Philadelphia’s first Level 1 Trauma Center for adults.

1986

Hahnemann opens Philadelphia’s first Level 1 Trauma Center for adults.

Creative Arts Therapy programs begin at Hahnemann, serving as the first graduate-level art therapy education opportunities in the world.

1967

Opening of the $2 million, five-story Myer Feinstein Polyclinic at 216 North Broad Street, and the $3 million, 17-story Elmer Holmes Bobst Clinical Research Building. In addition, Creative Arts Therapy programs begin at Hahnemann, serving as the first graduate-level art therapy education opportunities in the world.

Hahnemann alumni and faculty members Wilbur W. Oaks, MD ’55, and David A. Major, MD ’64.

1971

Hahnemann alumni and faculty members Wilbur W. Oaks, MD ’55, and David A. Major, MD ’64, establish the Physician Assistant program at Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital. The program is one of the nation’s oldest and largest, and the first of its kind in Pennsylvania.

Hahnemann’s annual bed race tradition begins.

1980

Hahnemann’s annual bed race tradition begins.

1993

Allegheny Health acquires Hahnemann. With the purchase, Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University combine to form MCP Hahnemann University.

1998

In June, eight of Allegheny’s Philadelphia-area hospitals, including Hahnemann and St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, along with the chain’s medical university and hundreds of doctors’ practices, file for bankruptcy. In November, Tenet Healthcare Corporation, a for-profit firm, buys Hahnemann, St. Christopher’s and six other Allegheny hospitals. Drexel University takes over the professional schools, including MCP Hahnemann University.

2000 >

Drexel University College of Medicine

2002

MCP Hahnemann University is renamed Drexel University College of Medicine.

2019

American Academic Health System, owner and operator of Hahnemann University Hospital, files for bankruptcy in June and closes the hospital permanently in September. The Hahnemann spirit endures at Drexel and with the school’s more than 15,000 alumni.

 
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