History of the University of Minnesota Medical School
The first classes in medicine at the University of Minnesota began in 1888 when three of the four private medical schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul offered their charters and resources to the state. In accepting this offer, the Board of Regents assumed responsibility for medical education on behalf of the people of Minnesota. In 1908, the remaining proprietary school was incorporated into the University of Minnesota Medical School. In 1969 the legislature appropriated planning funds for a two-year medical basic science program at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, and in 1971 provided additional support for development of the Duluth program. The charter class in Duluth began in 1973. In 2004, a decision by accrediting agency Liaison Committee on Medical Education caused the integration of the Duluth program as a campus of the University of Minnesota Medical School.
In 1905 money for the construction of a hospital was offered to the University by the estate of Augustus F. Elliot. After various delays, legislative approval and additional money were obtained. The Elliot Memorial Hospital, the first unit of University Hospitals, was dedicated in 1911. The act of acceptance passed by the legislature stated that the hospital would belong to and be a part of the University, that indigent residents of Minnesota would receive free care and treatment, and that the hospital would be controlled by the University regents. The legislature provided funds for the building of the Institute of Anatomy (Jackson Hall) and Millard Hall, both completed in 1912. Additional hospital and Medical School buildings have been built with private gifts, supplemented by state and federal funding. These include the Todd Hospital and Christian Hospitals (1925), Eustis Hospital (1929), Variety Club Heart Hospital (1950), Mayo Memorial Building (1954), Masonic Cancer Center and Veterans of Foreign Wars Cancer Research Center (1958), Diehl Hall (1960), Children's Rehabilitation Center, Dwan Variety Club Cardiovascular Research Center (1975), and the Phillips-Wangensteen Building (1978). The main hospital services were moved into a new University Hospital in 1986. In 1997, University Hospital merged with Fairview Health Services. The result: University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, and University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, Fairview.
The Medical School at the University of Minnesota has a rich tradition of research and clinical achievements. The excellence of the Medical School's programs can be traced to the early development of strong departments in the basic medical sciences closely linked to the laboratory of the State Board of Health and to the emergence in the 1920s of clinical departments active in clinical investigation. The pursuit of research in all departments has infused the whole school with a spirit of scientific inquiry and prompted advances in the practice of medicine.
