Drexel University College of Medicine is the

medical school 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, ...

Drexel University Drexel University is a private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of Art, ...

, a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kn ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

. The medical school represents the consolidation of two medical schools: the first U.S. medical school for women and the nation's first college of

homeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a d ...

. With one of the nation's largest enrollments for a private medical school, Drexel University College of Medicine is the second most applied-to medical school in the United States. It is ranked no. 83 in research by '' U.S. News & World Report''. The college is housed in

East Falls East Falls (also The Falls, formerly the Falls of Schuylkill) is a neighborhood in the Northwest section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It lies on the east bank of the "Falls of the Schuylkill," cataracts submerged in ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, at the Queen Lane Campus, near the Henry Ave site of the former

Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania The Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMCP) was founded in 1850, and was the second medical institution in the world established to train women in medicine to earn the M.D. degree. The New England Female Medical College had been establishe ...

. The Queen Lane Campus is primarily used by students during their preclinical training. The Center City

Hahnemann University Hospital Hahnemann University Hospital was a tertiary care center in Center City Philadelphia. It was the teaching hospital of Drexel University College of Medicine. Established in 1885, it was for most of its history the main teaching hospital associate ...

Campus was the college's primary teaching hospital until its closure in 2019. The College of Medicine follows a systems-based curriculum that is graded pass/fail. Beginning with the 2017-2018 school year, the MD program transitioned into a curriculum known as "Foundations and Frontiers". Designed to train physicians that are adept at navigating the increasingly multidisciplinary healthcare system of tomorrow, this new curriculum includes essential emerging competencies such as an understanding of population health, health informatics, and health care systems and financing. To foster a greater sense of community, first year medical students are divided into six learning societies based on local iconic landmarks: Athenaeum; Liberty Bell; Physick House; Rocky Statue; Reading Terminal; and Eakins House.

History

Drexel University College of Medicine went through many name changes throughout its history. The medical school began as two separate medical schools: Hahnemann Medical College and

. In 1993, the Medical College of Philadelphia merged with Hahnemann. Hahnemann had dropped its homeopathic focus by the late 1920s. In 2002,

assumed the leadership; this created the College of Medicine in its present form.

Hahnemann Medical College

* Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1848–1869 * Hahnemann Medical College, 1867–1982 * Hahnemann University, 1982–1993 In 1848, three homeopathic physicians — Constantine Hering, Jacob Jeanes and Walter Williamson — opened their practice at a Philadelphia pharmacy on 229 Arch Street with the intent to practice

. With 15 students they began operating the Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, offering M.D. and H.M.D degrees. Eventually, the College became affiliated with a hospital and moved to its present location near Broad and Vine Streets. By 1928, the 20-story Broad Street location became the site of one of the first high-rise teaching hospitals in the world.

Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania

* Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1850–1867 * Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMCP), 1867–1970 * Medical College of Pennsylvania (MCP), 1970–1993 When Hahnemann Medical College left its original site, the building on 229 Arch Street became the first home of the Female (later - after 1867, Woman's) Medical College of Pennsylvania. The New England Female College founded in 1848 but not recognized by the Massachusetts Legislature until April 30, 1850, is considered by some to be the first American medical school for women as it offered a course of medical study to women. On March 11, 1850, however, several weeks before the recognition of the New England Female College, the Pennsylvania legislature passed an act to incorporate the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania. Founded by Quaker businessmen, clergy, and physicians in Philadelphia, " Woman's Med" or MCP was thus the first medical school incorporated in the United States founded specifically to provide medical education exclusively for women. It opened its doors to the first class of women students on October 12, 1850. By 1910, the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania "remained as the only school in the United States dedicated to the education of women physicians". When it eventually became coeducational in the later part of the 20th century, it was thus the longest lasting medical school dedicated exclusively to the education of women physicians. In its early days, female physician training faced serious opposition from the male medical establishment both locally and from notable institutions such as the student body of

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is cons ...

. Students at the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania were jeered. Prevailing notions held women too feeble-minded to succeed in the demanding arena of academic medicine and too delicate to endure the physical requirements of clinical practice. As a result, Ann Preston, M.D., a member of the College's first graduating class, founded the Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia in 1861. In 1866, she became Dean of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, the first woman to hold position of dean at an American medical school.

MCP Hahnemann University

* MCP Hahnemann School of Medicine, 1993–1996 * Allegheny University of the Health Sciences, 1996–1998 * MCP Hahnemann University School of Medicine, 1998–2002 The Medical College of Pennsylvania merged with Hahnemann University in 1993, creating four fully accredited schools: the School of Medicine, Graduate School, School of Allied Health Professions, and the School of Continuing Education. In 1993, the College became the first medical school in the country to completely integrate women's health issues into its curriculum instead of an occasional lecture or optional elective. Also in that year MCP and Hahnemann University became part of Allegheny Health Education and Research Foundation (AHERF) and were integrated into the Allegheny University of the Health Sciences (AUHS), which included facilities in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, five years later AHERF, which owned eight Philadelphia hospitals, collapsed in the nation's largest bankruptcy of a non-profit health care organization. In October 1998, in an historic reorganization, the AHERF hospitals were sold to Tenet Healthcare Corporation, a for-profit hospital corporation based in Texas. A new non-profit corporation, Philadelphia Health & Education Corporation (PHEC), was created to carry on the education, research, and service missions under the name MCP Hahnemann University. Drexel University was hired as the university's operator, to bring the same level of expertise to running this academic medical center that Tenet brought to hospital management operations. On August 3, 2000, former President

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

was admitted to the Hospital after suffering two minor

stroke A stroke is a disease, medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemorr ...

s while attending the

2000 Republican National Convention The 2000 Republican National Convention convened at the First Union Center (now the Wells Fargo Center) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 31 to August 3, 2000. The 2000 delegates assembled at the convention nominated Texas Governor Geor ...

, but made a quick recovery afterwards.

Drexel University College of Medicine

* Drexel University College of Medicine, 2002–present After operating MCP Hahnemann University for three and one-half years, the Drexel Board of Trustees agreed to make its relationship with MCP Hahnemann permanent. On July 1, 2002, two of the MCP Hahnemann schools—the College of Nursing and Health Professions and the School of Public Health—formally became integrated with Drexel, and PHEC continued to operate as a legal affiliate of Drexel under its new name, Drexel University College of Medicine. Shortly thereafter, the Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania approved the transfer to Drexel University of all degree-granting authority that had previously been vested in MCP Hahnemann University. As a result, all students of the former MCP Hahnemann University became Drexel students and all alumni became affiliated with Drexel as well. Today, Drexel University College of Medicine has over 1,000 medical students, more than 500 biomedical graduate students, 550 residents, 600 clinical and basic science faculty, and over 1,700 affiliate and volunteer faculty. The college offers a Woman's Health Education Program for its medical students. Drexel University College of Medicine offers two curricular tracks for the first two years of preclinical medical education: * A traditional lecture-based curriculum called the Interdisciplinary Foundations of Medicine (IFM) * A case-based, problem-based curriculum called the Program for Integrated Learning (PIL) Approximately 3/4th of each class elects to pursue the IFM curriculum while the remaining 1/4th, after applying to the program and attending the appropriate orientation, will be accepted into the PIL curriculum. Beginning in the fall of 2017, a new integrated curriculum track, Foundations and Frontiers, replaced the existing dual curricula.

Location

Queen Lane Campus

The College of Medicine's main campus is at the Queen Lane campus of the former Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania. This campus houses first and second-year medical students as well as biomedical graduate students and is located in a suburban-like setting in the

neighborhood of Philadelphia. In 2006 the University finished construction of the Student Activities Center. This new wing included an expanded gym, recreation room, book store, and an expanded lecture hall that can accommodate the entire class of approximately 260 in one auditorium. In 2008, the University broke ground on an addition to the building: The Independence Blue Cross Medical Simulation Center. The simulation center, funded in part through a $2.5 million donation from Independence Blue Cross, features lifelike robots and screen-based simulation programs. The computer-driven robotic mannequins, called high-fidelity patient simulators, exhibit lifelike vital signs, including heartbeats, blood pressures, and body and eye movements. They can be programmed to display a variety of normal and abnormal conditions and to respond realistically to student interventions such as intubation, drug injection, or cardiac defibrillation. They can be programmed to speak or cry out in pain. The center will include a suite of exam rooms equipped with digital audio and visual recording capabilities for use in "standardized patient" encounters. In the 1980s, the College—then Medical College of Pennsylvania—became the first medical school in Philadelphia to employ standardized patients, actors who are taught to portray various clinical conditions and trained to provide feedback to students and residents. The new addition will also house the Drexel University College of Medicine Institute for Women's Health and Leadership and the Office of Executive Leadership in Academics, which includes the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine program. The ELAM program is the nation's only in-depth program focused on preparing senior women faculty at schools of medicine, dentistry and public health to move into positions of institutional leadership. The wing will also serve as the home of the College's Archives and Special Collections, the records Drexel University College of Medicine and its predecessor institutions, including Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann Medical College. The collections include books and other publications, photographs, clothing, uniforms, medical instruments and teaching tools. In total, the new addition will encompass of space over three floors. The anticipated completion date is August 2009.Drexelmed.edu
, Drexel University College of Medicine

Center City Hahnemann Campus

The Center City Hahnemann Campus, located in downtown Philadelphia, is the main site for the College's clinical education departments in addition to biomedical facilities and other health-science and public health programs. Hahnemann University Hospital anchors the Center City Hahnemann Campus, along with the Outpatient Clinics, Lecture Halls, and Residence Hall. Drexel's Office of Continuing Medical Education offers the only Physician Refresher/Re-Entry Course on the East Coast for physicians intending to re-enter the workforce after years of inactive practice. The program allows physicians to refresh their knowledge or gain additional training in order to re-enter the workforce. In 1991, the college purchased the former Elk's Lodge BPOE No. 2 Philadelphia Athletic Club building at 306–320 N. Broad Street for $2.35 million. They demolished it the following year to redevelop the site as a parking garage and computer center. The building had been added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1984. In September 2019, the hospital closed.

West Reading Campus

Located in Berks County, Pennsylvania, Drexel University College of Medicine at Tower Health is affiliated with Reading Hospital, which is a Magnet Recognized acute care facility. In 2021, Reading Hospital became a 4-year regional campus of the College of Medicine and began training first-year medical students.

Clinical sites

First-year students have the opportunity to be assigned to a faculty member for the entire year in a clinical setting. The university offers a wide array of clinical sites to its third- and fourth-year students. Operating large urban hospitals and small rural private practices, the university provides numerous opportunities for the students to be exposed to many diverse experiences. During third-year rotations, the students have the option to stay at a particular hospital for the entire year, or rotate among all the various locations throughout the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Delaware area. Here is a partial list of the various sites:

All-year sites

Allegheny General Hospital Allegheny General Hospital is a large urban hospital located at 320 East North Avenue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the larger Allegheny Health Network. History Allegheny General Hospital, also known locally by the acr ...

, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania *

Abington Memorial Hospital Jefferson Abington Hospital is the flagship hospital of Jefferson Health–Abington (part of Jefferson Health), located in Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in the northern suburbs of Philadelphia. The hospital was formerly k ...

, Abington, Pennsylvania * Wellspan Health, York Hospital, York, Pennsylvania *

Monmouth Medical Center Monmouth Medical Center, in Long Branch, Monmouth County, New Jersey, is one of New Jersey's largest community academic medical centers and is an academic affiliate of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School of Rutgers University, and is a part o ...

, Long Branch, New Jersey *

Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente (; KP), commonly known simply as Kaiser, is an American integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield. Kaiser Per ...

, Sacramento, California *

Crozer-Keystone Health System Crozer Health is a four-hospital health system based in Delaware County, Pennsylvania and serving Delaware County; northern Delaware and parts of western New Jersey. History In 1893, the 48-bed Chester Hospital opened to serve the growing popu ...

, Upland, Pennsylvania *

Reading Hospital The Reading Hospital is a 738-bed non-profit teaching hospital located in the borough of West Reading, in the US state of Pennsylvania. The hospital was established in 1867 and is a part of Tower Health System. The hospital is a certified stroke c ...

, Reading, Pennsylvania

Partial-year sites

Bayhealth Medical Center Bayhealth Medical Center is a healthcare system serving the central and southern portion of Delaware in the United States. Locations Bayhealth Medical Center operates two hospitals: Bayhealth Hospital, Kent Campus in Dover and Bayhealth Hospital, ...

, Dover, Delaware * Capital Health System, Trenton, New Jersey * Coatesville VA Medical Center, Coatesville, Pennsylvania * Crozer-Chester Medical Center, Chester, Pennsylvania * Easton Hospital, Easton, Pennsylvania *

Friends Hospital Friends Hospital is a psychiatric hospital located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1813 by Quakers as The Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason, the institution was later renamed the Frankf ...

, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania *

Lancaster General Hospital Lancaster General Health is a regional hospital located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It is part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System The University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) is a major multi-hospital health system headquar ...

, Lancaster, Pennsylvania *

Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest Lehigh Valley Hospital, also known as Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, is a hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Lehigh Valley Hospital is the largest hospital in the Lehigh Valley metropolitan region and the third largest hospital in Pennsy ...

, Allentown, Pennsylvania * Mercy Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania * Pinnacle Hospital, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania * St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania *

Saint Peter's University Hospital Saint Peter's University Hospital (SPUH) is a Roman Catholic hospital on Easton Avenue in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The hospital is a member of the Saint Peter's Healthcare System, Inc., a New Jersey nonprofit corporation sponsored by the Roman C ...

, New Brunswick, New Jersey

Notable alumni

The Drexel University College of Medicine and its predecessor medical schools have graduated physicians such as

Susan La Flesche Picotte Susan La Flesche Picotte (June 17, 1865 – September 18, 1915, Omaha) was a Native American doctor and reformer in the late 19th century. She is widely acknowledged as one of the first Indigenous peoples, and the first Indigenous woman, to ea ...

, the first Native American female physician;

Anandi Gopal Joshi Dr. Anandibai Gopalrao Joshi (31 March 1865 – 26 February 1887) was the first Indian female doctor of western medicine. She was the first woman from the erstwhile Bombay presidency of India to study and graduate with a two-year degree in weste ...

, the first Indian female physician in the United States;

Rebecca Cole Rebecca J. Cole (March 16, 1846August 14, 1922) was an American physician, organization founder and social reformer. In 1867, she became the second African-American woman to become a doctor in the United States, after Rebecca Lee Crumpler thre ...

, the second African-American female physician in the United States; Patricia Robertson, a NASA astronaut and physician; and Sandra Lee, a dermatologist who became an Internet celebrity and star of the TLC TV series '' Dr. Pimple Popper'', and

Jameela Al Salman Jameela Al Salman ( ar, جميلة السلمان) is a Bahraini physician, infectious disease specialist, and associate professor at the Arabian Gulf University. She has won several awards and honors for her contributions to the field of medic ...

who was awarded by the Prime Minister in the Kingdom of Bahrain for the best governmental practices in the program of antibiotic stewardship.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drexel University College Of Medicine Drexel University 1848 establishments in Pennsylvania Embedded educational institutions Former women's universities and colleges in the United States Medical schools in Pennsylvania Universities and colleges in Philadelphia