![Washington University School of Medicine2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Washington_University_School_of_Medicine2.jpg)
Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) is the
medical school of
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...
in
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
. Founded in 1891, the School of Medicine has 1,260 students, 604 of which are pursuing a
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 ...
with or without a combined
Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...
or other advanced degree. It also offers doctorate degrees in biomedical research through the Division of Biology and Biological Sciences. The School has developed large
physical therapy (273 students) and
occupational therapy (233 students) programs, as well as the Program in Audiology and Communication Sciences (100 students) which includes a Doctor of
Audiology
Audiology (from Latin , "to hear"; and from Greek , ''-logia'') is a branch of science that studies hearing, balance, and related disorders. Audiologists treat those with hearing loss and proactively prevent related damage. By employing vario ...
(Au.D.) degree and a Master of Science in
Deaf Education
Deaf education is the education of students with any degree of hearing loss or deafness. This may involve, but does not always, individually-planned, systematically-monitored teaching methods, adaptive materials, accessible settings, and othe ...
(M.S.D.E.) degree. There are 1,772 faculty, 1,022
residents, and 765
fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
s.
The clinical service is provided by Washington University Physicians, a comprehensive medical and surgical practice providing treatment in more than 75 medical specialties. Washington University Physicians are the medical staff of the two teaching hospitals –
Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Barnes-Jewish Hospital is the largest hospital in the U.S. state of Missouri. Located in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, it is the adult teaching hospital for the Washington University School of Medicine and a major component of ...
and
St. Louis Children's Hospital. They also provide inpatient and outpatient care at the St. Louis
Veteran's Administration Hospital, hospitals in the
BJC HealthCare
BJC HealthCare is a non-profit health care organization based in St. Louis, Missouri. BJC includes two nationally recognized academic hospitals – Barnes–Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children's Hospital, which are both affiliated with the ...
system and 35 other office locations throughout the greater St Louis region.
''
U.S. News & World Report'' ranks the college high;
the school is currently ranked 11th for research and has been ranked as high as 2nd in 2003 and 2004,. The school ranks first in the nation in student selectivity. As of 2019, it also receives the third most funding among all medical schools in the US from the National Institute of Health, totalling an amount of $218 million. Globally, the school is ranked as the 20th and 35th best medical program in 2020 by the Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings for medicine and QS World University Ranking for medicine, respectively.
Faculty
18
Nobel laureates have been associated with the School of Medicine.
12 faculty members are fellows of the
National Academy of Sciences; 30 belong to the
Institute of Medicine.
92 faculty members hold individual career development awards from the
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 ...
(NIH).
59 faculty members hold career development awards from non-federal agencies.
14 faculty members have MERIT status, a special recognition given by the National Institutes of Health that provides long-term, uninterrupted financial support to investigators.
Six faculty members are
Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators.
History
Medical classes were first held at Washington University in 1891 after the St. Louis Medical College decided to affiliate with the University, establishing a Medical Department.
Robert S. Brookings, a University benefactor from its earliest days, devoted much of his work and philanthropy to Washington University and made the improvement of the Medical Department one of his primary objectives. This especially became a cause for concern after an early 1900s
Carnegie Foundation report derided the organization and quality of the Medical Department.
Following a trend in medical education across the country, research and the creation of new knowledge became a stated objective in a 1906 course catalog for the medical department. For Brookings and the University, incorporating the Medical Department into a separate School of Medicine seemed to be the next logical step. This process began in 1914 when facilities were moved to their current location in St. Louis's
Central West End
The Central West End is a neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri, stretching from Midtown's western edge to Union Boulevard and bordering on Forest Park with its outstanding array of free cultural institutions. It includes the Cathedral Basilica of ...
neighborhood in 1914, and was completed in 1918 with the official naming of the School of Medicine.
The first female faculty member seems to have been biochemist and physiologist
Ethel Ronzoni Bishop
Ethel Ronzoni Bishop (b. August 21, 1890 – 1975) was an American biochemist and physiologist.
Early life and education
Ethel Ronzoni was born in California. She earned her BS degree from Mills College in 1913, her Master's from Columbia Unive ...
, who became an assistant professor in 1923.
The Medical School began its escalation from regional renown in the 1940s, a decade when two groups of faculty members received Nobel Prizes, in 1944 and 1947. In 1950, a Cancer Research Building was completed, the first major addition to the School of Medicine since its 1914 move and one of several buildings added in the decade. In the 1960s the School of Medicine diversified its student body, graduating its first African-American student and substantially increasing the percentage of graduating students who are female to nearly half.
In March 2020, Washington University School of Medicine announced the construction of a new $616 million, 11-story, 609,000-square-foot
neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developme ...
research building which will sit at the eastern edge of the Medical Campus in the
Cortex Innovation Community
Cortex Innovation Community, or Cortex is a vibrant innovation community serving as an inclusive economic engine for the St. Louis region. We create equitable economic impacts by leveraging high quality facilities, developing a portfolio of progra ...
. Construction of the building is to finish in 2023.
Campus
![Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St Louis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Barnes-Jewish_Hospital_in_St_Louis.jpg)
Washington University Medical Center comprises 164 acres (0.5 km²) spread over about 17 city blocks, located along the eastern edge of
Forest Park
A forest park is a park whose main theme is its forest of trees. Forest parks are found both in the mountains and in the urban environment.
Examples Chile
* Forest Park, Santiago
China
*Gongqing Forest Park, Shanghai
* Mufushan National Fores ...
within the
Central West End
The Central West End is a neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri, stretching from Midtown's western edge to Union Boulevard and bordering on Forest Park with its outstanding array of free cultural institutions. It includes the Cathedral Basilica of ...
neighborhood of St. Louis. Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children's Hospital, part of BJC HealthCare, the teaching hospitals affiliated with the School of Medicine, are also located within the medical complex. Many of the buildings are connected via sky bridges and corridors. As of 2008, the School of Medicine occupies over in the complex.
Washington University and BJC HealthCare have taken on many joint venture projects since their original collaboration in the 1910s. One is the Center for Advanced Medicine, which houses the
Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center and was completed in December 2001. At , it is one of the largest buildings in the complex.
The complex has several especially large buildings. In 2007, construction began on the BJC Institutes of Health, of which Washington University's Medical School occupies several floors. It is the largest building constructed on Washington University's campus. Called the BJC Institute of Health at Washington University, it houses the University's BioMed 21 Research Initiative, five interdisciplinary research centers, laboratories, and additional space for
The Genome Center.
Prominent buildings, centers, and spaces at the medical campus includes
Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Barnes-Jewish Hospital is the largest hospital in the U.S. state of Missouri. Located in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, it is the adult teaching hospital for the Washington University School of Medicine and a major component of ...
, the
Central Institute for the Deaf
Central Institute for the Deaf (CID) is a school for the deaf that teaches students using listening and spoken language, also known as the auditory-oral approach. The school is located in St. Louis, Missouri. CID is affiliated with Washington Univ ...
,
St. Louis Children's Hospital, Rehabilitation Institute of Saint Louis, Siteman Cancer Center, Center for Advanced Medicine, Charles F. Knight Emergency and Trauma Center, and the Eric P. Newman Education Center.
The complex is accessible via the
Central West End MetroLink station, which provides transportation to the rest of Washington University's campuses.
Nobel laureates
Physiology or Medicine
* 1943:
Edward A. Doisy (1893–1986), Faculty of Medicine, 1919–1923
* 1944:
Joseph Erlanger
Joseph Erlanger (January 5, 1874 – December 5, 1965) was an American physiologist who is best known for his contributions to the field of neuroscience. Together with Herbert Spencer Gasser, he identified several varieties of nerve fiber and es ...
(1874–1965), Chairman, Department of Physiology 1910–1946
* 1944:
Herbert Gasser (1888–1963), Faculty of Medicine, 1916–1931
* 1947:
Carl F. Cori
Carl Ferdinand Cori, Fellow of the Royal Society, ForMemRS (December 5, 1896 – October 20, 1984) was an Austrian-American biochemist and pharmacologist born in Prague (then in Austria-Hungary, now Czech Republic) who, together with his wife Ge ...
(1896–1984), Faculty of Medicine 1931–1984
* 1947:
Gerty T. Cori (1896–1957), Faculty of Medicine 1931–1957
* 1959:
Arthur Kornberg
Arthur Kornberg (March 3, 1918 – October 26, 2007) was an American biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1959 for the discovery of "the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic ac ...
, Chairman, Department of Microbiology, 1952–1959
* 1959:
Severo Ochoa
Severo Ochoa de Albornoz (; 24 September 1905 – 1 November 1993) was a Spanish physician and biochemist, and winner of the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with Arthur Kornberg for their discovery of "the mechanisms in ...
, Faculty of Medicine 1940–1942
* 1969:
Alfred Hershey (1908–1997), Faculty of Medicine 1934–1950
* 1971:
Earl Sutherland (1915–1974), M.D. 42, Resident in Internal Medicine 1943–1945, Faculty of Medicine, 1945–1953
* 1974:
Christian de Duve
Christian René Marie Joseph, Viscount de Duve (2 October 1917 – 4 May 2013) was a Nobel Prize-winning Belgian cytologist and biochemist. He made serendipitous discoveries of two cell organelles, peroxisome and lysosome, for which he shared ...
, Faculty of Medicine 1946–1947
* 1978:
Daniel Nathans
Daniel Nathans (October 30, 1928 – November 16, 1999) was an American microbiologist. He shared the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application in restriction mapping.
Early life a ...
(1928–1999), M.D. 54
* 1978:
Hamilton O. Smith, Washington University Medical Service 1956–1957
* 1980:
George D. Snell, Faculty of Arts and Sciences 1933–1934
* 1986:
Stanley Cohen, Faculty of Arts and Sciences 1953–1959
* 1986:
Rita Levi-Montalcini
Rita Levi-Montalcini (, ; 22 April 1909 – 30 December 2012) was an Italian Nobel laureate, honored for her work in neurobiology. She was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with colleague Stanley Cohen for th ...
(1909–2012), Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 1948–1977
* 1992:
Edwin G. Krebs
Edwin Gerhard Krebs (June 6, 1918 – December 21, 2009) was an American biochemist. He received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research and the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize of Columbia University in 1989 together with Alfred Gilman and ...
, M.D. 43, Resident in Internal Medicine and then a Research Fellow in Biological Chemistry 1945–1948
* 1998:
Robert F. Furchgott
Robert Francis Furchgott (June 4, 1916 – May 19, 2009) was a Nobel Prize-winning American biochemist who contributed to the discovery of nitric oxide as a transient cellular signal in mammalian systems.
Early life and education
Furchgott ...
, Ph.D. Faculty of Medicine, 1949–1956
* 2020:
Charles M. Rice
Charles Moen Rice (born August 25, 1952) is an American virologist and Nobel Prize laureate whose main area of research is the Hepatitis C virus. He is a professor of virology at the Rockefeller University in New York City and an adjunct profess ...
, Ph.D. Faculty of Medicine, 1986-2001
Chemistry
* 1970:
Luis F. Leloir, Faculty of Medicine 1944
* 1980:
Paul Berg
Paul Berg (born June 30, 1926) is an American biochemist and professor emeritus at Stanford University. He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1980, along with Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger. The award recognized their con ...
, Faculty of Medicine 1954–1959
* 2012:
Brian Kobilka
Brian Kent Kobilka (born May 30, 1955) is an American physiologist and a recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Robert Lefkowitz for discoveries that reveal the workings of G protein-coupled receptors. He is currently a professor in ...
, Resident in Internal Medicine, 1981–1984
Notable alumni
*
Alexis F. Hartmann, MD '21; pediatrician, biochemist and former professor of pediatrics
*
Ewald W. Busse, MD ’42; psychiatrist and dean of
Duke University School of medicine
*
Earl Sutherland, MD '42; biochemist and winner of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...
*
Edwin G. Krebs
Edwin Gerhard Krebs (June 6, 1918 – December 21, 2009) was an American biochemist. He received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research and the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize of Columbia University in 1989 together with Alfred Gilman and ...
, MD ’43; biochemist and winner of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...
*
David W. Talmage, MD ’44; immunologist
*
Helen Elizabeth Nash
Helen Elizabeth Nash (8 August 1921 – 4 October 2012) was a pediatrician known for breaking racial and gender barriers in the medical field. She began her career at the Homer G. Phillips Hospital, and later worked at the Saint Louis Childrenâ ...
, MD, PhD '45; pediatrician; dean of minority affairs at Washington University School of Medicine
*
Ernst Wynder
Ernst Ludwig Wynder (April 30, 1922 – July 14, 1999) was an American epidemiology and public health researcher who studied the health effects of smoking tobacco. His and Evarts Ambrose Graham's joint publication of "Tobacco Smoking as a Possi ...
, MD '50; linked smoking with lung cancer
*
Daniel Nathans
Daniel Nathans (October 30, 1928 – November 16, 1999) was an American microbiologist. He shared the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application in restriction mapping.
Early life a ...
, MD ’54; microbiologist and winner of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...
and
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 ...
*
James E. Darnell Jr., MD ’55; molecular biologist and winner of the
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 ...
*
Selna Kaplan
Selna Lucille Kaplan (April 8, 1927 – July 21, 2010) was an American pediatric endocrinology, pediatric endocrinologist and a professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. She led the first American clinical trials of gr ...
, MD ’55; pediatric endocrinologist
*
Thomas Hornbein, MD ’56; mountaineer and chairman of anesthesiology at
University of Washington School of Medicine
The University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) is a large public medical school in the northwest United States, located in Seattle and affiliated with the University of Washington. According to ''U.S. News & World Report''s 2022 Best Grad ...
*
Clay Armstrong
Clay Margrave Armstrong (born 1934) is an American physiologist and a former student of Andrew Fielding Huxley. Armstrong received his MD from Washington University School of Medicine in 1960. He is currently emeritus professor of Physiology at t ...
, MD ’60; physiologist and winner of the
Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research for describing K+ channels
*
Floyd E. Bloom, MD ’60; chairman emeritus of neuropharmacology at
Scripps Research Institute
Scripps Research, previously known as The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), is a nonprofit American medical research facility that focuses on research and education in the biomedical sciences. Headquartered in San Diego, California, the institu ...
and editor-in-chief of ''
Science
Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
''
*
Pedro Cuatrecasas
Pedro Cuatrecasas (born 27 September 1936) is an American biochemist and an Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology & Medicine at the University of California San Diego.
Birth and education
Pedro Cuatrecasas was born in 1936 in Madrid, Spain. He com ...
, MD ’62; inventor of affinity chromatography and winner of the
Wolf Prize in Medicine
The Wolf Prize in Medicine is awarded annually by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Agriculture, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics and Arts. The ...
*
C. Garrison Fathman, MD ’69; clinical immunologist
*
Philip O. Alderson, MD ’70; dean of
Saint Louis University School of Medicine
Saint Louis University School of Medicine is a private, Jesuit medical school. Part of Saint Louis University, the institution was established in 1836.
The school has an enrollment of around 700, with about 550 faculty members and 550 residents in ...
*
Jonathan Mann, MD ’74; head of the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...
global AIDS program
*
Dan R. Littman, MD, PhD ’80; immunologist,
HHMI
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American business magnate, investor, record-setting pilot, engineer, fi ...
investigator, member of the
National Academy of Sciences and the
Institute of Medicine
*
Eric D. Green, MD, PhD ’87, HS ’91; director of the
NHGRI
The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) is an institute of the National Institutes of Health, located in Bethesda, Maryland.
NHGRI began as the Office of Human Genome Research in The Office of the Director in 1988. This Office transi ...
Other associated hospitals
*
St. Louis Children's Hospital
*
Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center
*
Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital
*
Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital
*
Christian Hospital
*
Northwest HealthCare
*
Metropolitan St. Louis Psychiatric Center
Metropolitan may refer to:
* Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories
* Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England
* Metropolitan county, a ...
*
Missouri Baptist Medical Center
*
St. Louis Shriner's Hospital
See also
*
Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics
The ''Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics'' is a medical textbook first published in 1942 by Wayland MacFarlane, a professor at the Washington University School of Medicine and chief of the internal medicine ward. Described as the "bible of ...
References
External links
*
{{Coord, 38.6370, -90.2646, type:edu_region:US-MO, display=title
Medical schools in Missouri
School of Medicine
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...
Educational institutions established in 1891
Washington University in St. Louis campus
1891 establishments in Missouri
Central West End, St. Louis