SUNY Downstate Medical Center - Iatros Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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George M. Sternberg, M .D. this was increased to four years, as was the medical school curriculum. In the same year the Polhemus Memorial Building opened on the corner of Amity and Henry Streets. It included a dispensary, admin- istrative offices, lecture halls and laboratories. In 1905 the old Perry Mansion was torn down and a new Long Island College Hospital built on the same site. In 1910 the roof fell in. This was the year of the Flexner Report, a full scale investigation and evaluation of medical education in the United States and Canadaf' The study was conducted by Abraham Flexner of the Carnegie Foundation for the American Medical Association. Its sharp criti- cism forced many poor medical schools to close. This included about half of those then in existence. Long Island College hospital received a Class B rating because it had no full-time teachers in labora- tory subjects, no pathology museum, no student library, inadequate clinical laboratories and no laboratory teaching in physiology and pharmacology. These defects were remedied and in 1914 the school was rated Class A. Other changes followed. In 1914 a Department of Tropical Medicine was formed. It was eliminated in 1928. In 1917 Long Island College Hospital began a thirteen year association with Columbia University. Dr. Nicholas M. Butler, President of Columbia, arranged for the appointment of James Egbert, Director of University Extension Teaching fat Columbiaj to the presidency of Long Island College Hospital. Egbert started a two year premedical course run by Columbia, given at Long Island Col- lege Hospital. This course or its equivalent became a requirement for medical school admission. It was the long term scheme of Columbia University to Walter Reed, M.D. 23

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completed the requirements for both an MD degree and license. These included being at least 21 years old, having a three year tutorship under a reputable physician and completing two courses of lectures at a medical school, at least the second being at Long Island College Hospital. As years went by both the physical plant and curriculum changed. In 1879 the term was expanded from four to five months. No medical school in the country offered more instruction. Pathology was introduced as a separate course in that year. By 1882 autopsy attendance was mandatory, reflecting the increasing importance of the department. Graduation requirements now included passing of oral and written examinations in ten subjects. In 1886 a Department of Medical Jurisprudence was estab- lished which lasted until 1931. In 1888 the Hoagland Laboratory opened across the street from the main hospital on Henry Street. Originally intended as a bacteriology research center, it was later used to teach basic science to the medical students. One of the finest institutions of its kind, it was favorably compared with Johns Hopkins Hospital. The first director of the laboratory was Dr. George M. Sternberg, an authority on yellow fever and malaria. His most famous protege was Walter Reed, who interned at Kings County Hospital in 1871. Sternberg was the first in America to demon- strate the tubercle bacillus, living malaria plas- modium and Salmonella typhosa. In 1893 he became Surgeon General of the United States Army and appointed Reed to head the Army Yellow Fever Commission. The 1890's were a time of change in medical education. In 1891, under a new state law, a three year graded curriculum was inaugurated. In 1893, an equivalent of three years of high school was re- quired for entrance into medical school. In 1897 22

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Long Island College Hospital in 1897 ,...a.,mM av. kb, f Hoagland Laboratory Polhemus Memorial Clinic