The John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital was originally established in 1892 as the Tuskegee Institute Hospital and Nurse Training School. Its original purpose was to train nursing students and provide care for faculty members at the Tuskegee Institute. When it was founded, it was the first black hospital in
Alabama. When it was founded, it did not have an
outpatient clinic, and instead only provided emergency services within its Tuskegee building. Unlike most other American hospitals of the day, it practiced outreach to surrounding communities through decentralized clinics in rural areas, and most patients received care at these clinics rather than at the hospital itself. In 1902,
John A. Kenney Sr. was appointed its director, after which the hospital increased in size and expanded its reach to the entire surrounding community. In a 1919 article in ''
the Nation's Health'', Kinney described the hospital as "a modern, up-to-date, well-appointed, two-story brick building, with accommodations for sixty patients with no crowding, and for a good many more when it is necessary." The
Tuskegee Syphilis Study took place at the hospital, thanks to the approval of both
Eugene Dibble (then the hospital's medical director) and
Robert R. Moton (then the president of the Tuskegee Institute). The hospital closed in 1987, after its resources were exhausted by an excess of charity cases. When it closed, it was the last black hospital in Alabama. It was later reopened as the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Healthcare in January 1999. ==Influence==