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

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Josephine Hutchinson Memorial Building 1893 ■ 1930 Although Flexnor 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 postgraduate instruction provided by the New Orleans Polyclinic. 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. In 1958, the division of hygiene and tropical medicine was established, whic h 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 become 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 acclaimed as the best medical teaching unit in 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 me moved downtown. This left only the first year departments on the Uptown campus. In 1963. further additions to the downtown facility were built to house the first years departments, finally 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 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 151 years ago as The Medical College of Louisiana. Tulane has undergone many changes. Several buildings and locations have housed Tulane Medical School; Federal troops occupied the school 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 medical education so that today it is ranked among the top medical schools in this country, and perhaps the world. From its meager beginnings in 1834 with 1 1 students. The Tulane University School of Medicine has gone on to confer a total of 12,733 medical degrees including those conferred on the graduates of the Class of 1987.

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At the time of it ' s founding, the number of medical students consisted of a grand total of 11. From 1834 to 1859, the number of students grew from 1 1 to 276. Just prior to the Civil War in 1861, the number 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 closure of the medical school later that year. In the fall of 1865, the school reopened its doors with 185 students enrolling. 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 1884, when the wealthy New Orleans merchant Paul Tulane bequeathed $1,250,000 for the establishment of a university. The state legislature then placed all departments of the University of Louisiana under the newly renamed 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 need for new facitlities. 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 of money 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 preclinical 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 opened, the school year had lasted only four months and only two full courses of lectures were required to graduate. Since only one set of lectures existed, the students were expected to take the same course twice. Admission to lectures were 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 disection of 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. Class of 1910 in the Anatomy Lab Classroom for bandage instruction Gradually, 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 furthered extended until it evolved into what it is today. It was also in 1893 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, attendance at three, instead of two, annual sessions was required. In 1899, this was lengthened to four obligatory sessions. By the early 1900 ' s it became apparent 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 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 adverse publicity.

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