Tulane University School of Medicine - T Wave Yearbook (New Orleans, LA)

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need for new facilities. In 1893, a new building, the Richardson Memorial Build- ing, was built on Canal Street to house the medical school. Although this building was heralded as one of the best equipped medical buildings of its day, by 1907, further expansion was needed. At this time, Alexander Hutchinson bequeathed a large sum in memory of his wife Jose- phine. This fund was used to construct a new Richardson Building on what was to become the Uptown Campus. This build- ing would now house all preclinical de- partments. Facilities of the old Richard- son Building were enlarged for clinical teaching purposes and the building was renamed the Josephine Hutchinson Me- morial. Meanwhile the school was continuously attempting to raise its standards. When the medical school was initially founded, the school year had lasted only four months, and only two full courses of lec- tures were required for graduation. Since only one set of courses existed, the stu- dents were expected to take the same lectures twice. Admission to lectures was gained with a ticket purchased at a price of $20. This was the sole means by which the professors were paid. Addition- al fees included a matriculation fee of $5 and a diploma fee of $30. Incidental ex- penses included the purchase of two arms for dissection at 25 cents each, and two legs at 15 cents each. At this time, the only requirement for admission was the ability to finance one ' s education. Graducilly, the annual sessions were lengthened from the original four months to four and one-half months in 1879, then to six months in 1893. In later years, the length of these sessions was further ex- tended until it evolved into what it is to- day. It was also in 1893 that an educa- tional qualification for admission was first required of all students. The minimum qualification for admission was a second grade teacher ' s certificate of a superin- tendent of education. Also, to further strengthen educational standards, atten- dance of three, instead of two, annual sessions was required. In 1899, this was lengthened to four obligatory sessions. By the early 1900 ' s, it became appar- ent that a high degree of disparity existed between different medical schools. In 1908, Abraham Flexner was selected by the Carnegie Foundation to undertake an analysis of the state of medical education. He made a study of 155 American and Canadian medical schools, beginning at Tulane in the winter of 1908. Flexner published his report in 1910, describing shocking and deplorable conditions in many medical schools. This opened the eyes of the public and the medical com- Class of 1910 in the Anatomy Lab Classroom for bandage instruction ¥1

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' I ' HI3 IIEK. .1 F.ROM fi: RAVON. IlK UNION — IT MUSTBr PRr!tRr r«D ' ONOAV MORMNCUEPT. «0, I834. Trr- Vr « e Wif ' v cTst ' iK tO ' Hrfilee theesmblishmrnt in Ihi ' ■ ' JSpHjcal college Tho ;ontleinen wl)o fill ihachair o ' .i. «or»hi; are mon of «kill and experience, nnJ we-h.ip. ihat «» mSy noil)e iliouxht invulwuJ, wlien wo pamt i piini f! ir to Wpssrs. Hw?iT, Inoalle nnd Lur.F.MBCao, will H ' .i ' »ni icqininlnnM i:i rmre extendj-J. The Iwo forme U ' ' V fo jre o IicLifed in a like c.ipacity in smular ina ' iiu cil- ; pJSs, i»nl the latter h.is estibiiiliod a reputation in our ■J !j ' .e ' ' ii {lie3t grade ns n siinjoon. ' Tht:f ltfiXT pr Friftul, wnoriin into by the Tom Jrffrmnn ;i ' i jite Lafayetti; on Saiurdjy, and Bunk; water up to tin was estimated to cost $6000 and was not completed until tiie end of 1843. In 1845, a Constitutional Convention speci- fied that the Medical College of Louisiana was to become the Medical Department of The University of Louisiana. Two years later, additional funds were appro- priated to erect buildings for the new uni- versity. The original building was re- turned to the state to be used by the newly established law department. A much larger building was erected adja- cent to the original medical building for use by the medical department. At the time of its founding, the number of medical students consisted of a grand The New Orleans Charity Hospital total of 11. From 1834 to 1859, the num- ber of students grew from 11 to 276. Just prior to the Civil War in 1861, the num- ber of students increased dramatically to 404 because of political and sectional hostility which induced Southern students to abandon Northern Colleges. When the war broke out, most students joined the war effort in such numbers that, in 1862, only 94 students were enrolled. Federal occupation of New Orleans forced the closure of the medical school later that year. In the fall of 1865, the school re- opened its doors with 185 students en- rolling. However, because of the devasta- tion wrought by the Civil War and the subsequent reconstruction, the medical school faced its most trying times. The school struggled financially for its very existence until 1884, when the wealthy New Orleans merchant Paul Tulane be- queathed $1,250,000 for the establish- ment of a university. The state legislature then placed all departments of the Uni- versity of Louisiana under the newly ren- amed Tulane University of Louisiana. This donation enabled Tulane to once again assume front rank among American medical schools. By the early 1890 ' s, rapid growth of the medical school had established the

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Josephine Hutchinson Memorial Building 1893 ■ 1930 munity such that the Flexner Report was, in effect, an obituary for a great many medical colleges. Within a few years al- most half of the colleges had disap- peared, mostly due to the adverse public- ity. Although Flexner found medical edu- cation at Tulane far from ideal, he ranked Tulane among the top three medical schools of the South. Tulane ' s high rank- ing was based on new and excellent labo- ratory facilities, the teaching faculty, the clinical availability of Charity Hospital, and the post-graduate instruction pro- vided by the New Orleans Polyclinic. In 1913, Tulane reorganized the medi- cal department to include the school of pharmacy, the school of dentistry, the school of medicine and the graduate school of medicine. Today, only the latter two schools remain as part of the present school of medicine. In 1958, the division of hygiene and tropical medicine was es- tablished, which has since evolved into the school of public health and tropical medicine. The Josephine Hutchinson Memorial Building on Canal Street continued to house the clinical facilities of the medical school for nearly forty years. However, by the late 1920 ' s, the building had be- come crowded and obsolete. Funds were provided for a new medical unit to be built contiguous to Charity Hospital in what is now the present location of the medical school. When the building opened in December 1930, it was ac- claimed as the best medical teaching unit in the South. The preclinical departments, unfortu- nately, were still located on the Uptown campus. Nonetheless, it was acknowl- edged that to provide the most enriching medical environment possible, all four years of medical education needed to be consolidated on one campus. It was not, however, until October of 1955 that a ten story addition to the Hutchinson Memori- al Building enabled the second year de- partments to be moved downtown. This left only the first year departments on the Uptown campus, in 1963, further addi- tions to the downtown facility were built to house the first year departments, final- ly enabling the medical school to reunify its entire four classes in one building for the first time since the early 1900 ' s. In 1969, the Tulane Medical Center was established, an organizational struc- ture which broadened Tulane ' s commit- Tulane Medical School Uptown ments to medical education, research and patient care. The Tulane Medical Center Hospital and Clinic, the first such univer- sity hospital in Louisiana, was dedicated in October 1976. This 300-bcd hospital enabled Tulane to consolidate a wide range of patient services in a tertiary care environment, in the few short years since its opening, it has become a major refer- ral center for the region. Since its founding 151 years ago as The Medical College of Louisiana, Tulane has undergone many changes. Several buildings and locations have occupied these buildings; so have federal troops during the Civil War. There have been periods of financial plenty, followed by periods of financial drought. Throughout the years, however, Tulane has always striven to improve its standards of medi- cal education so that today it is ranked among the top medical schools in the country, and perhaps the world. From its meager beginnings in 1834 with 11 stu- dents. The Tulane University School of Medicine has gone on to confer a total of 12,433 medical degrees including those conferred on the graduates of the Class of 1985. Charily Hospital 1939 ■ Present Tulane University School of Medicine