Colonial years In 1767,
Samuel Bard, an alumnus of then-
King's College and the
University of Edinburgh Medical School, opened a medical school at Columbia. At the time, the medical program at King's College was the first to open in the
Province of New York and only the second to be opened in the
American Colonies. The school was modelled on the
University of Edinburgh Medical School, which at the time was the world leader. Three years later, in 1770, King's College conferred its first medical degree to Robert Tucker, this would prove to be the first Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) awarded in the Thirteen Colonies. Prior to King's College of Medicine offering of the M.D. degree, other American and Canadian medical schools had been offering the
Bachelor of Medicine degree. King's College continued to educate young doctors until 1776 when the school was forced to close due to the onset of the
Revolutionary War and the
occupation of New York by British soldiers. King's College remained closed until 1784 when the school was reopened as Columbia College and in December of that year, the faculty of the medical school were re-instated. In 1791, Bard, now a prominent colonial physician whom
George Washington credited with saving his life, was named dean of the medical school.
Merger with the College of Physicians and Surgeons In 1807, with a growing young nation in need of adequately trained physicians, the
New York State Board of Regents founded, under separate charter, the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Merely four years later, in 1811, Samuel Bard, dean of Columbia University Medical School, became president of the college. The year 1814 then saw the merger of Columbia University Medical School into the College of Physicians and Surgeons, a move that was made in an attempt to reverse what then was perceived as a period of decline for the medical school. Despite this merger, the College of Physicians and Surgeons retained its independence from Columbia and it was only in 1860 that the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at that time occupying buildings across West Fifty-ninth Street from the
Roosevelt Hospital (its major teaching hospital at the time), after severing its ties to the New York Board of Regents and through agreement between the trustees of the College of Physicians and Surgeons and Columbia, became the official medical school of Columbia University. This new relationship between the college and Columbia was minimal at best, however, with the college retaining independence from Columbia. It was not until 1891 that the College of Physicians and Surgeons would be fully integrated and incorporated into Columbia. In 1886, the Sloane Maternity Hospital, later the
Sloane Hospital for Women, was founded as part of Physicians and Surgeons.
Medical Center Formation In 1911, Columbia University entered into a "Formal Agreement of Alliance" with Presbyterian Hospital, a hospital founded in 1868 by
James Lenox a New York
philanthropist. It was this alliance, initiated by philanthropist
Edward Harkness, that helped to pave the way for the creation of a new medical center format. In 1928, the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center opened its doors in a building largely funded by Harkness. Set on land in the
Washington Heights section of Manhattan, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center was the first place in the world to provide facilities for patient care, medical education, and research all under one roof. It was the first academic medical center and pioneered the practice of combining medical training with patient care. Included in this project with Presbyterian Hospital were the Babies Hospital, the Neurologic Institute of New York, and the New York State Psychiatric Institute; these were then joined in 1950 by the New York Orthopaedic Hospital. In 1997, the Presbyterian Hospital merged with New York Hospital (partner of
Weill Cornell Medicine of
Cornell University) to form the
NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital. This new hospital system incorporated many of the satellite hospitals and affiliated programs of these two institutions. While the two medical schools remain independent of one another, there has been significant cross-fertilization between the two campuses, leading to increasing numbers of shared research experiences and training programs. All hospitals in the
NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System are affiliated with either the Cornell or Columbia medical schools.
Renaming At the 2017 Crown Awards, President
Lee Bollinger announced that the school would officially be renamed as the Columbia University Roy and Diana Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. This decision was made in response to a gift of $250 million from P. Roy and Diana
Vagelos. $150 million of the gift was dedicated to endow a fund to help Columbia eliminate student loans for medical students who qualify for financial aid. ==Academics==