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

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Tulane University School of Medicine Class of 1910 In 1913. Tulane reorganized the medical 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 1 958. the division of hygiene and tropical medicine was established, which has since evolved into the school of public health and tropical medicine. The Josephine Memorial Building on Canal Street continued to house the clinical facilities of the medical school for nearly forty years. However, by the late i920 ' s, the building had become crowded and obsolete. Funds were provided for a new medical unit to be built contiguous with Charity Hospital in what is now the present location of the medical school. When the building opened in December 1930. it was acclaimed as the best medical training unit it the South. The preclinical departments, unfortunately, were still located on the Uptown Campus. Nonetheless, it was acknowledged 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 Memorial Building enabled the second year departments to be moved downtown. This left only the first year departments on the Uptown Campus. In 1 963. further additions to the downtown facility were built to house the first year departments, finally allowing the medical school to reunify its entire four classes in one building for the first time since t he early I900 ' s. lulanr Medical School Today

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In the fall of 1865. the school reopened its doors with 185 students enrolled. However, because of the devastation 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 1 884. when a wealthy New Orleans merchant by the name of Paul Tulane bequeathed $1,250,000 for the establishment of a university. The state legislature then placed all the departments of the University of Louisiana under the newly named Tulane University of Louisiana. This donation enabled Tulane to once again assume front rank among American medical schools. By the early 1 890 ' s. rapid growth of the medical school had established the need for new facilities. In 1893. a new building, the Richardson Memorial Building, 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 Josephine. This fund was used to construct a new Richardson Building on what was to become the Uptown Campus. This building would now house all pre-clinical departments. Facilities of the old Richardson Building were enlarged for clinical teaching purposes and the building was renamed the Josephine Hutchinson Memorial. 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 lectures were required for graduation. Since only one set of courses existed, the students 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. Additional fees included a matriculation fee of $5, and a diploma fee of $30. Incidental expenses 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. Josephine Hutchinson Memorial Building 1893-1930 Gradually, the annual sessions were lengthened from the original four months to four and one-half months in 1 879. then to six months in 1 893. In later years, the length of these sessions was further extended until it evolved into what it is today. It was also in 1 893 that an educational qualification for admission was first required of all students. The minimum qualification for admission was a second grade teacher ' s certificate of a superintendent of education. Also, to further strengthen educational standards, attendence of three instead of two annual sessions was required. In 1 899. this was lengthened to four obligatory sessions. By the early I900 ' s. it became apparent that a high degree of disparity existed between different medical schools. In 1 908, Abraham Flexner was selected by the Carnegie Foundation to undertake an analysis of the state of medical education. He made a study of 1 55 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 community such that the Flexner Report was. in effect, an obituary for a great many medical colleges. Within a few years, almost half of the colleges had disappeared, mostly due to the adverse publicity. Although Flexner found medical education at Tulane far from ideal, he ranked Tulane among the top three medical schools of the South. Tulane ' s high ranking was based on new and excellent laboratory facilities, the teaching faculty, the clinical availability of Charity Hospital, and the post-graduate instruction provided by the New Orleans Polyclinic.

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Tulane Medical Center - Opened 1976 In 1969, the Tulane Medical Center was established, an organizational structure which broadened Tulane ' s commitments to medical education, research and patient care. The Tulane Medical Center Hospital and Clinic, the first such university hospital in Louisiana, was dedicated in October 1976. This 300-bed 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 referral center for the region. Since its founding 1 52 years ago as The Medical College of Louisiana. Tulane has undergone many changes, and not just in name. Several buildings have come and gone. While many different students and faculty members have occupied these buildings, so have federal troops during the Civil War. Throughout the years, however. Tulane has always strived to improve its standards of medical education such that it is now ranked among the top medical schools in the country, and perhaps the world. Though Tulane originally catered to students mainly from the South, it now attracts graduates from all parts of the United States. From its meager beginnings in 1834 with I I students. The Tulane University School of Medicine has gone on to confer a total of 12,581 medical degrees including those conferred on the graduates of the Class of 1986. Tulane Medical School Class of 1986 Special thanks to Donna Park and Mickey Puente (Class of 1984) for their research work into the history of Tulane.