Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) is the graduate
medical school of
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, located at the
Columbia University Irving Medical Center
NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center (NYP/CUIMC), also known as the Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), is an academic medical center and the largest campus of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. It includes C ...
in the
Washington Heights neighborhood of
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. Founded in 1767 by
Samuel Bard as the medical department of King's College (now
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
), VP&S was the first
medical school in the
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th cent ...
to award the
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...
(MD) degree. Beginning in 1993, VP&S was also the first U.S. medical school to hold a
white coat ceremony
The white coat ceremony (WCC) is a ritual in some schools of medicine and other health-related fields that marks the student's transition from the study of preclinical to clinical health sciences. At some schools, where students begin meeting pat ...
.
According to ''
U.S. News & World Report'', VP&S is one of the most selective medical schools in the United States based on average
MCAT
The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT; ) is a computer-based standardized examination for prospective medical students (both Allopathic M.D. and Ostepathic D.O.) in the United States, Australia, Canada, and Caribbean Islands. It is designe ...
score,
GPA
Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...
, and acceptance rate. In 2018, 7,537 people applied and 1,007 were interviewed for 140 seats in its entering MD class. The median undergraduate GPA and average MCAT score for successful applicants in 2014 were 3.82 and 36, respectively. Columbia is third for research among American medical schools by ''U.S. News & World Report''.
In 2018, Columbia became the first medical school in the nation to replace loans with scholarships for all students who qualify for financial aid. The scholarships are funded by an endowment that was established by Dr.
P. Roy Vagelos
Pindaros Roy Vagelos (born October 8, 1929, in Westfield, New Jersey), better known as P. Roy Vagelos or Roy Vagelos, is an American physician and business executive, who was president and chief executive officer (1985) and chairman (1986) of t ...
and his wife Diana Vagelos; in December 2017, the 250-year-old medical school was renamed in their honor. The Vageloses committed more than $310 million to Columbia, $150 million of which was directed toward the scholarship fund.
Columbia is affiliated with
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools, Cornell University and Columbia University. The hospital comprises seven distinct campuses located in the New ...
, the nation's 4th-ranked hospital according to ''
U.S. News & World Report''. Students additionally rotate through its affiliate hospitals:
Harlem Hospital Center
Harlem Hospital Center, branded as NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, is a 272-bed, public teaching hospital affiliated with Columbia University. It is located at 506 Lenox Avenue in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City and was founded in 1887.
The hosp ...
;
Stamford Hospital in
Stamford, CT
Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...
; and
Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital
The Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital (Bassett Medical Center) is a teaching hospital in Cooperstown, New York. The hospital opened in June 1922. The hospital has 180 beds. It is associated with Columbia University. It is home to the Bassett Canc ...
in
Cooperstown, NY
Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the C ...
.
Curriculum
Beginning in the fall of 2009, the medical school implemented a new curriculum that differed markedly from more traditional structures. The largest change involved a reduction in the number of preclinical months from twenty-four to eighteen and the expansion of the electives and selectives period to fourteen months. Each student now is required to spend four to ten months working on a scholarly project before graduation.
Student life
Campus
Situated on land overlooking the
Hudson River
The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
and separated from Columbia's undergraduate campus in
Morningside Heights by approximately fifty blocks and the neighborhood of
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...
, the
Columbia University Medical Center
NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center (NYP/CUIMC), also known as the Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), is an academic medical center and the largest campus of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. It includes C ...
has its own unique standing and identity. The campus comprises not only VP&S, but also the College of Dental Medicine (formerly the School of Dental and Oral Surgery), the School of Nursing, the Mailman School of Public Health, the Presbyterian portion of
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools, Cornell University and Columbia University. The hospital comprises seven distinct campuses located in the New ...
(including the
Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian (MSCH or CHONY) is a women's and children's hospital at 3959 Broadway, near West 165th Street, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is a part of NewYork-Pr ...
) and the
New York State Psychiatric Institute
The New York State Psychiatric Institute, located at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, was established in 1895 as one of the first institutions in the United States t ...
. Affiliated hospitals include
Harlem Hospital
Harlem Hospital Center, branded as NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, is a 272-bed, public teaching hospital affiliated with Columbia University. It is located at 506 Lenox Avenue in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City and was founded in 1887.
The hosp ...
,
Stamford Hospital in
Stamford, Connecticut, and
Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital
The Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital (Bassett Medical Center) is a teaching hospital in Cooperstown, New York. The hospital opened in June 1922. The hospital has 180 beds. It is associated with Columbia University. It is home to the Bassett Canc ...
in
Cooperstown, New York. In August 2016 th
Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center new 100,000-square-foot, 14-story glass medical education tower opened at 104 Haven Avenue, between 171st and 172nd Streets, near the northern tip of the campus. Housing options on Columbia's Medical Campus include Bard Hall and the Bard-Haven Towers, a complex of three, 31-story apartment buildings overlooking the
Hudson River
The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
and the
George Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee, New Jersey, with Manhattan in New York City. The bridge is named after George Washington, the first president of the United S ...
. Students are guaranteed housing on campus all years, although many students choose to live in other parts of New York City.
P&S Club
There are student clubs covering a range of professional and personal interests, all of which fall under the umbrella of the P&S Club. One unusual element is the Bard Hall Players, a theatrical group entirely run by the students of the medical campus, and one of the largest and most active medical school theater groups in the country. They perform a musical and two plays each year. Founded over a century ago by
John Mott
John Raleigh Mott (May 25, 1865 – January 31, 1955) was an evangelist and long-serving leader of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) and the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF). He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946 for hi ...
, the 1946
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...
recipient, the P&S Club serves to support and provide activities and organizations for the enrichment of the lives of VP&S students. The P&S Club is well known for its humanitarian aims; most notably the 1917 purchase of a steam launch delivered to Sir William Grenfell, a physician living in
Labrador
, nickname = "The Big Land"
, etymology =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Canada
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 ...
. This launch was used to deliver medical services to the
Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
and
First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
*First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including:
**First Natio ...
fishermen living on the islands of the Labrador coast and frequently, was crewed by P&S students.
History
Colonial years
In 1767, Dr.
Samuel Bard, an alumnus of then-
King's College and the
University of Edinburgh Medical School
The University of Edinburgh Medical School (also known as Edinburgh Medical School) is the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the United Kingdom and part of the University of Edinburgh College of Medicine and Veterinar ...
, opened a
medical school at
Columbia. At the time, the medical program at King's College was the first to open in the
Province of New York
The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the U ...
and only the second to be opened in the
American Colonies. The school was modelled on the
University of Edinburgh Medical School
The University of Edinburgh Medical School (also known as Edinburgh Medical School) is the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the United Kingdom and part of the University of Edinburgh College of Medicine and Veterinar ...
, which at the time was the world leader. Three years later, in 1770, King's College conferred its first
medical degree
A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...
to Robert Tucker, this would prove to be the first
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...
(M.D.) awarded in the Thirteen Colonies. Prior to King's College of Medicine offering of the M.D. degree, other American and Canadian medical schools had been offering the
M.B. degree. King's College continued to educate young doctors until 1776 when the school was forced to close due to the onset of the
Revolutionary War and the
occupation of New York by British soldiers. King's College remained closed until 1784 when the school was reopened as Columbia College and in December of that year, the faculty of the medical school were re-instated. In 1791, Bard, now a prominent colonial physician whom
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
credited with saving his life, was named dean of the medical school.
Merger with the College of Physicians and Surgeons
In 1807, with a growing young nation in need of adequately trained physicians, the
New York State Board of Regents The Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York is responsible for the general supervision of all educational activities within New York State, presiding over University of the State of New York and the New York State Education Depa ...
founded, under separate charter, the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Merely four years later, in 1811, Dr. Samuel Bard, dean of Columbia University Medical School, became president of the college. The year 1814 then saw the merger of Columbia University Medical School into the College of Physicians and Surgeons, a move that was made in an attempt to reverse what then was perceived as a period of decline for the medical school.
![(King1893NYC) pg280 COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS, 437 WEST 59TH STREET](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/%28King1893NYC%29_pg280_COLLEGE_OF_PHYSICIANS_AND_SURGEONS%2C_437_WEST_59TH_STREET.jpg)
Despite this merger, the College of Physicians and Surgeons retained its independence from Columbia and it was only in 1860 that the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at that time occupying buildings across West Fifty-ninth Street from the
Roosevelt Hospital
Mount Sinai West, opened in 1871 as Roosevelt Hospital, is affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Health System.
The 514-bed facility is located in the Midtown West neighborhood of New York City. The f ...
(its major teaching hospital at the time), after severing its ties to the New York Board of Regents and through agreement between the trustees of the College of Physicians and Surgeons and Columbia, became the official medical school of Columbia University. This new relationship between the college and Columbia was minimal at best, however, with the college retaining independence from Columbia. It was not until 1891 that the College of Physicians and Surgeons would be fully integrated and incorporated into Columbia. In 1886, the Sloane Maternity Hospital, later the
Sloane Hospital for Women, was founded as part of Physicians and Surgeons.
Medical Center Formation
In 1911, Columbia University entered into a "Formal Agreement of Alliance" with Presbyterian Hospital, a hospital founded in 1868 by
James Lenox
James Lenox (August 19, 1800 – February 17, 1880) was an American bibliophile and philanthropist. His collection of paintings and books eventually became known as the Lenox Library and in 1895 became part of the New York Public Library.
Early ...
a New York
philanthropist. It was this alliance, initiated by philanthropist
Edward Harkness
Edward Stephen Harkness (January 22, 1874 – January 29, 1940) was an American philanthropist. Given privately and through his family's Commonwealth Fund, Harkness' gifts to private hospitals, art museums, and educational institutions in the Nort ...
, that helped to pave the way for the creation of a new medical center format. In 1928, the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center opened its doors in a building largely funded by Harkness. Set on land in the
Washington Heights section of Manhattan, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center was the first place in the world to provide facilities for patient care, medical education, and research all under one roof. It was the first academic
medical center and pioneered the practice of combining medical training with patient care. Included in this project with Presbyterian Hospital were the Babies Hospital, the Neurologic Institute of New York, and the New York State Psychiatric Institute; these were then joined in 1950 by the
New York Orthopaedic Hospital.
In 1997, the Presbyterian Hospital merged with New York Hospital (partner of
Weill Cornell Medicine
The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York.
Weill Cornell Medicine is affiliated with N ...
of
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
) to form the
NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools, Cornell University and Columbia University. The hospital comprises seven distinct campuses located in the New Y ...
. This new hospital system also has incorporated many of the satellite hospitals and affiliated programs of these two institutions. While the two medical schools remain independent of one another, there has been significant cross-fertilization between the two campuses, leading to increasing numbers of shared research experiences and training programs. NYPH is now the largest private employer in New York City. All hospitals in the
NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System
The NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System is a network of independent, cooperating, acute-care and community hospitals, continuum-of-care facilities, home-health agencies, ambulatory sites, and specialty institutes in the New York metropolitan ...
are affiliated with either the Cornell or Columbia medical schools.
Renaming
At the 2017 Crown Awards, President
Lee Bollinger
Lee Carroll Bollinger (born April 30, 1946) is an American lawyer and educator who is serving as the 19th and current president of Columbia University, where he is also the Seth Low Professor of the University and a faculty member of Columbia La ...
announced that the school would officially be renamed as the Columbia University Roy and Diana Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. This decision was made in response to a gift of $250 million from Dr. P. Roy and Diana
Vagelos.
$150 million of the gift, was dedicated to endow a fund to help Columbia eliminate student loans for medical students who qualify for financial aid.
The remaining $100 million will be divided equally to support precision medicine programs and basic science research as well as an endowed professorship in the Department of Medicine in honor of the Vagelos family's longtime doctor and friend, Thomas P. Jacobs, MD.
Prominent faculty
Prominent faculty members include Nobel Prize laureates
Richard Axel
Richard Axel (born July 2, 1946) is an American molecular biologist and List of university professors at Columbia University, university professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Columbia University and investigator at the Howard Hughes Medic ...
,
Eric Kandel
Eric Richard Kandel (; born Erich Richard Kandel, November 7, 1929) is an Austrian-born American medical doctor who specialized in psychiatry, a neuroscientist and a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the College of Physicians and Surge ...
, and
Joachim Frank
Joachim Frank () (born September 12, 1940) is a German-American biophysicist at Columbia University and a Nobel laureate. He is regarded as the founder of single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), for which he shared the Nobel Prize i ...
; author
Oliver Sacks
Oliver Wolf Sacks, (9 July 1933 – 30 August 2015) was a British neurologist, naturalist, historian of science, and writer. Born in Britain, Sacks received his medical degree in 1958 from The Queen's College, Oxford, before moving to the Uni ...
; 2011 Pulitzer Prize winner for nonfiction
Siddhartha Mukherjee
Siddhartha Mukherjee (born 21 July 1970) is an Indian-American physician, biologist, and author. He is best known for his 2010 book, '' The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer'', that won notable literary prizes including the 2011 Pu ...
; and
Rudolph Leibel
Rudolph Leibel (born 1942) is the Christopher J. Murphy Professor of Diabetes Research, Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, and Director of the Division of Molecular Genetics in the Department of Pediatrics ...
whose co-discovery of the
hormone
A hormone (from the Greek participle , "setting in motion") is a class of signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs by complex biological processes to regulate physiology and behavior. Hormones are require ...
leptin, and cloning of the
leptin and
leptin receptor
Leptin receptor, also known as LEP-R or OB-R, is a type I cytokine receptor, a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''LEPR'' gene. LEP-R functions as a receptor for the fat cell-specific hormone leptin. LEP-R has also been designated as CD2 ...
genes, has had a major role in the area of understanding
human
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, cultu ...
obesity
Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's ...
.
Jean C. Emond, Thomas S. Zimmer Professor of Surgery, participated in the first living-donor
liver transplantation in children in North America and established the liver transplant program at Columbia, which has become one of the largest in the United States.
Joshua Sonett, Professor of Clinical Surgery, performed chest surgery on former President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
in 2005.
In November 2018,
Expertscape recognized Columbia as #1 in the world for expertise in
Celiac Disease
Coeliac disease (British English) or celiac disease (American English) is a long-term autoimmune disorder, primarily affecting the small intestine, where individuals develop intolerance to gluten, present in foods such as wheat, rye and barle ...
and Dr. Peter Green as the world's #1 expert.
Notable alumni
Medical innovators
*
Virginia Apgar
Virginia Apgar (June 7, 1909August 7, 1974) was an American physician, obstetrical anesthesiologist and medical researcher, best known as the inventor of the Apgar Score, a way to quickly assess the health of a newborn child immediately after bir ...
(
Apgar score)
*
Oswald Avery
Oswald Theodore Avery Jr. (October 21, 1877 – February 20, 1955) was a Canadian-American physician and medical researcher. The major part of his career was spent at the Rockefeller Hospital in New York City. Avery was one of the first molecula ...
(pioneer in
immunochemistry
Immunochemistry is the study of the chemistry of the immune system. This involves the study of the properties, functions, interactions and production of the chemical components (antibodies/immunoglobulins, toxin, epitopes of proteins like CD4, a ...
)
*
T. Romeyn Beck (pioneer in
medical jurisprudence
Medical jurisprudence or legal medicine is the branch of science and medicine involving the study and application of scientific and medical knowledge to legal problems, such as inquests, and in the field of law. As modern medicine is a legal ...
; authored first significant American book on
forensic medicine)
*
H. I. Biegeleisen (pioneer of
phlebology
Phlebology is a medical speciality that is concerned with venous issues including the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the veins. A medical specialist in this field is known as a phlebologist. The specialty of phlebology has developed to en ...
; one of the first doctors in United States to use injection as a method of treating
varicose veins
Varicose veins, also known as varicoses, are a medical condition in which superficial veins become enlarged and twisted. These veins typically develop in the legs, just under the skin. Varicose veins usually cause few symptoms. However, some indiv ...
; coined the term ''
sclerotherapy
Sclerotherapy (the word reflects the Greek ''skleros'', meaning ''hard'')
is a procedure used to treat blood vessel malformations (vascular malformations) and also malformations of the lymphatic system. A medicine is injected into the vessels, wh ...
'')
*
T. Berry Brazelton (
pediatrician, Brazelton
Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale
The Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS), also known as the Brazelton Neonatal Assessment Scale (BNAS),Kaplan, R. M., & Sacuzzo, D. P.(2010). Psychological Testing: Principles, Applications, & Issues, Eighth Edition. Belmont, CA: Wadswort ...
)
*
Leo Buerger (urologist that characterized
Buerger disease)
*
Charles Drew Charles Drew may refer to:
* Charles R. Drew (1904–1950), American physician, surgeon, and medical researcher
* Charles Drew (cricketer) (1888–1960), Australian cricketer
* Charles Drew (surgeon) (1916–1987), cardiothoracic surgeon
* Charles ...
(ground-breaking work in
blood transfusions
Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used whole blood, but mod ...
, blood storage, large-scale
blood banks)
*
Tom Frieden
Thomas R. Frieden (born December 7, 1960) is an American infectious disease and public health physician. He serves as president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, a $225million, five-year initiative to prevent epidemics and cardiovascular disease ...
(Director of
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); New York City Health Commissioner)
*
Oliver Wolcott Gibbs
Oliver Wolcott Gibbs (February 21, 1822 – December 9, 1908) was an American chemist. He is known for performing the first electrogravimetric analyses, namely the reductions of copper and nickel ions to their respective metals.
Biograp ...
(chemist; known for performing first
electrogravimetric analyses;
National Academy of Sciences, President (also a founding member), 1895–1900)
*
John Franklin Gray
John Franklin Gray (September 23, 1804 – June 9, 1882) was an American educator and physician, a pioneer in the field of homoeopathy and one of its first practitioners in the United States. He is also recognized as an important medical reforme ...
(pioneer in field of and first practitioner of homoeopathy in United States; also recognized as important medical reformer)
*
Peter K. Gregersen (
Crafoord Prize
The Crafoord Prize is an annual science prize established in 1980 by Holger Crafoord, a Swedish industrialist, and his wife Anna-Greta Crafoord. The Prize is awarded in partnership between the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Crafoord Foun ...
in
Polyarthritis
Polyarthritis is any type of arthritis that involves 5 or more joints simultaneously. It is usually associated with autoimmune conditions and may be experienced at any age and is not sex specific.
Causes
Polyarthritis is most often caused by an au ...
in 2013)
*
William Halsted
William Stewart Halsted, M.D. (September 23, 1852 – September 7, 1922) was an American surgeon who emphasized strict aseptic technique during surgical procedures, was an early champion of newly discovered anesthetics, and introduced several ...
(introduced several new operations, one of "Big Four" founding professors at
Johns Hopkins Hospital
The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was founded in 1889 using money from a bequest of over $7 million (1873 m ...
)
*
Jean Emily Henley (wrote the first widely used anesthesia textbook)
*
Robert Lefkowitz
Robert Joseph Lefkowitz (born April 15, 1943) is an American physician (internist and cardiologist) and biochemist. He is best known for his groundbreaking discoveries that reveal the inner workings of an important family G protein-coupled recep ...
(U.S.
National Medal of Science
The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social scienc ...
,
Shaw Prize, 2012
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...
)
*
Sean E. McCance (
orthopedic surgeon
Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...
)
*
Walsh McDermott
Walsh McDermott (October 24, 1909 – October 17, 1981) was an American physician, medical researcher and public health specialist. In his early career, he researched antibiotic agents against tuberculosis and syphilis, earning a Lasker Award for ...
(infectious diseases and public health; pioneered the use of
isoniazid
Isoniazid, also known as isonicotinic acid hydrazide (INH), is an antibiotic used for the treatment of tuberculosis. For active tuberculosis it is often used together with rifampicin, pyrazinamide, and either streptomycin or ethambutol. For la ...
to treat
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
)
*
David McDowell (psychiatrist, author, consultant)
*
Jean Baker Miller
Jean Baker Miller (1927–2006) was a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, social activist, feminist, and author. She wrote ''Toward a New Psychology of Women,'' which brings psychological thought together with relational-cultural theory. (psychoanalyst, feminist, social activist, wrote ''Toward a New Psychology of Women'' (1976))
*
Dorothy Klenke Nash (first American woman neurosurgeon)
*
Frederick F. Russell (
Brigadier General
Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...
; U.S. Army physician who developed the first successful typhoid vaccine in 1909;
Public Welfare Medal The Public Welfare Medal is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "in recognition of distinguished contributions in the application of science to the public welfare." It is the most prestigious honor conferred by the academy. First award ...
)
*
Benjamin Spock
Benjamin McLane Spock (May 2, 1903 – March 15, 1998) was an American pediatrician and left-wing political activist whose book '' Baby and Child Care'' (1946) is one of the best-selling books of the twentieth century, selling 500,000 copies ...
(pediatrician, wrote ''
The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care
''The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care'' is a book by American pediatrician Benjamin Spock and one of the best-selling books of the twentieth century, selling 500,000 copies in the six months after its initial publication in 1946 and 50&n ...
'')
*
Albert Starr
Albert Starr (born June 1, 1926, in New York, New York) is an American cardiovascular surgeon, inventor of the Starr heart valve. Starr resides and practices in the Portland, Oregon area and is special adviser to OHSU Dean of Medicine Mark Rich ...
(2007
Lasker Award
The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1945 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, which was ...
;
cardiovascular surgeon; pioneer,
inventor, Starr
heart valve
A heart valve is a one-way valve that allows blood to flow in one direction through the chambers of the heart. Four valves are usually present in a mammalian heart and together they determine the pathway of blood flow through the heart. A heart ...
)
*Paul Stelzer (
cardiothoracic surgeon)
*
P. Roy Vagelos
Pindaros Roy Vagelos (born October 8, 1929, in Westfield, New Jersey), better known as P. Roy Vagelos or Roy Vagelos, is an American physician and business executive, who was president and chief executive officer (1985) and chairman (1986) of t ...
(president, CEO, chairman of pharmaceutical company
Merck
Merck refers primarily to the German Merck family and three companies founded by the family, including:
* the Merck Group, a German chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences company founded in 1668
** Merck Serono (known as EMD Serono in the Unite ...
)
*
Allen Whipple
Allen Oldfather Whipple (September 2, 1881 – April 6, 1963) was an American surgeon who is known for the pancreatic cancer operation which bears his name (the Whipple procedure) as well as Whipple's triad.
Whipple was born to missionary paren ...
(
Whipple procedure
A pancreaticoduodenectomy, also known as a Whipple procedure, is a major surgical operation most often performed to remove cancerous tumours from the head of the pancreas. It is also used for the treatment of pancreatic or duodenal trauma, or chro ...
,
Whipple's triad
Whipple's triad is a collection of three signs (called Whipple's criteria) that suggests that a patient's symptoms result from hypoglycaemia that may indicate insulinoma. The essential conditions are symptoms of hypoglycaemia, low blood plasma ...
)
Nobel laureates
*
Baruch Samuel Blumberg
Baruch Samuel Blumberg (July 28, 1925 April 5, 2011), known as Barry Blumberg, was an American physician, geneticist, and co-recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (with Daniel Carleton Gajdusek), for his work on the hepa ...
*
Joshua Lederberg
Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...
*
Robert J. Lefkowitz (best known for his work with
G protein-coupled receptor
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), also known as seven-(pass)-transmembrane domain receptors, 7TM receptors, heptahelical receptors, serpentine receptors, and G protein-linked receptors (GPLR), form a large group of evolutionarily-related p ...
s for which he won the 2012
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
in Chemistry)
*
Dickinson W. Richards
*
Harold Varmus
Harold Eliot Varmus (born December 18, 1939) is an American Nobel Prize-winning scientist. He is currently the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and a senior associate at the New York Genome Center.
He was ...
(Director,
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
; Director,
National Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...
; President,
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. MSKCC is one of 52 National Cancer Institute ...
)
Writers
*
Jacob Appel (2004
William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition)
*
Robert Coles (
Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are awarded annually for the "Letters, Drama, and Music" category. The award is given to a nonfiction book written by an American author and published duri ...
,
MacArthur Award
The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 ind ...
"genius grant",
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merit ...
,
National Humanities Medal
The National Humanities Medal is an American award that annually recognizes several individuals, groups, or institutions for work that has "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the human ...
)
*
Robin Cook
Robert Finlayson "Robin" Cook (28 February 19466 August 2005) was a British Labour politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 until his death in 2005 and served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001 wh ...
(100 million+ copies of works in print)
*
Jerome Groopman
Jerome E. Groopman has been a staff writer in medicine and biology for ''The New Yorker'' since 1998. He is also the Dina and Raphael Recanati Chair of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Chief of Experimental Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Me ...
*
Walker Percy
Walker Percy, OSB (May 28, 1916 – May 10, 1990) was an American writer whose interests included philosophy and semiotics. Percy is noted for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans; his first, '' The Moviegoer'', won the Nat ...
(
National Book Award for Fiction
The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987 the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, but ...
, "''Time'' 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005")
*
John E. Sarno (originator of the diagnosis of psychosomatic condition,
tension myositis syndrome
Tension myositis syndrome (TMS), also known as tension myoneural syndrome or mindbody syndrome, is a name given by John E. Sarno to a condition of psychogenic musculoskeletal and nerve symptoms, most notably back pain. Sarno described TMS in fo ...
)
Others
Other alumni include astronaut
Story Musgrave
Franklin Story Musgrave (born August 19, 1935) is an American physician and a retired NASA astronaut. He is a public speaker and consultant to both Disney's Imagineering group and Applied Minds in California. In 1996, he became only the second a ...
, Olympic champion
Jenny Thompson
Jennifer Beth Thompson (born February 26, 1973) is an American former competition swimmer and anesthesiologist.
She is one of the most decorated Olympians in history: twelve medals, including eight gold medals, in the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 200 ...
(twelve medals, including eight gold medals), former Afghan prime minister
Abdul Zahir, mayor of the City of
Rancho Cucamonga, California (2006–)
Don Kurth
Donald J. Kurth, Jr. (born April 26, 1949) is a physician, businessowner, educator, and former mayor of the City of Rancho Cucamonga, California (2006–2011). He was elected President of the Rancho Cucamonga Chamber of Commerce in 1994, Director ...
, and philanthropists
Theodore K. Lawless and
Jean Shafiroff
Jean Shafiroff is an American philanthropist, author, advocate, and socialite. Serving on multiple national and regional philanthropic boards, she is the ambassador and spokesperson for American Humane Feed the Hungry COVID-19 Program. She is t ...
.
George Fletcher Chandler served with the
US Army Medical Corps and practiced as a physician and surgeon throughout New York in addition to organizing and serving as the first Superintendent of the
New York State Police
The New York State Police (NYSP) is the state police of the state of New York in the United States. It is part of the New York State Executive Department, and employs over 5,000 sworn state troopers and 711 civilian members.
History
The Stat ...
.
Charles W. Berry was
New York City Comptroller
The Office of Comptroller of New York City, a position established in 1801, is the chief financial officer and chief auditor of the city agencies and their performance and spending. The comptroller also reviews all city contracts, handles the s ...
.
Serb
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
politician and accused
war criminal Radovan Karadžić
Radovan Karadžić ( sr-cyr, Радован Караџић, ; born 19 June 1945) is a Bosnian Serb politician, psychiatrist and poet. He was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by the International Criminal Tr ...
studied at Columbia for a year. Former
NBA player
Mark Pope attended P&S, but left to coach college basketball.
John L. Leal's application of chlorine disinfection technology and his defense of the chemical's use, contributed significantly to the eradication of typhoid fever and other waterborne diseases in the U.S.
Robert Ernest Noble
Robert E. Noble (November 5, 1870 – September 18, 1956) was an American physician and a career officer in the United States Army. A veteran of the Philippine–American War, United States occupation of Veracruz, World War I, and the Occupation ...
, who received his M.D. in 1899 was a U.S. Army medical officer who researched causes and treatments for
yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...
and
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
during construction of the
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...
.
After his service in France during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, he was the longtime director of the
Library of the Surgeon General's Office
The Library of the Surgeon General's Office, later called the Army Medical Library, was the institutional medical literature repository of the U.S. Army Surgeon General from 1836 to 1956 when it was transformed into the National Library of Medic ...
.
In fiction
*The characters
Derek Shepherd
Derek Christopher Shepherd, M.D., F.A.C.S., also referred to as "McDreamy", is a fictional surgeon from the ABC medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'', portrayed by actor Patrick Dempsey. He made his first appearance in the pilot episode, " A Hard D ...
,
Mark Sloan, and
Addison Montgomery from medical drama ''
Grey's Anatomy
''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into s ...
'' and
Sam Bennett and
Naomi Bennett
Dr. Naomi Bennett is a fictional character on the ''Grey's Anatomy'' spin-off '' Private Practice''. She was initially portrayed by Merrin Dungey in the backdoor pilot ''Grey's Anatomy'' episode, "The Other Side of This Life", but was replaced by ...
from the spinoff series ''
Private Practice Private practice may refer to:
*Private sector practice
**Practice of law
In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiati ...
'' attended P&S together
*Joel Fleischman (
Rob Morrow
Robert Alan Morrow (born September 21, 1962) is an American actor and director. He is known for his portrayal of Dr. Joel Fleischman on '' Northern Exposure'', a role that garnered him three Golden Globe and two Emmy nominations for Best Acto ...
) in ''
Northern Exposure''
*Dr.
Buckaroo Banzai
''The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension'', often shortened to ''Buckaroo Banzai'', is a 1984 American science fiction film produced and directed by W. D. Richter and written by Earl Mac Rauch. It stars Peter Weller in the ...
(
Peter Weller) and Dr. Sidney Zweibel (
Jeff Goldblum
Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum (; born October 22, 1952) is an American actor and musician. He has starred in some of the highest-grossing films of his era, such as ''Jurassic Park'' (1993) and ''Independence Day'' (1996), as well as their sequels.
...
) were P&S classmates in ''
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
''The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension'', often shortened to ''Buckaroo Banzai'', is a 1984 American science fiction film produced and directed by W. D. Richter and written by Earl Mac Rauch. It stars Peter Weller in the ti ...
'' (1984)
References
Notes
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Columbia University College Of Physicians And Surgeons
Columbia University
NewYork–Presbyterian Healthcare System
Schools of medicine in New York City
Washington Heights, Manhattan
Educational institutions established in 1767
1767 establishments in the Province of New York
Ivy League medical schools