History of Thomas Jefferson University
In 1824, Dr. George McClellan promoted an audacious idea never tried before -
teaching medical students by having them observe experienced doctors treating patients.
McClellan’s revolutionary idea, and his willingness to act on it, created Jefferson Medical
College, launched Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and eventually helped create Thomas
Jefferson University, reshaping the way medicine is taught throughout the world.
A private, nonsectarian university located in Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
Thomas Jefferson University grew out of Dr. McClellan’s (1796-1847) conviction that the
time was right, and the need sufficiently urgent, to establish a second medical school in
Philadelphia that would supplement the only medical school in the city at the time, the
University of Pennsylvania.
Enlisting the aid of his undergraduate alma mater, Jefferson College in Canonsburg,
Pennsylvania, to sponsor his idea, the 27-year-old surgeon became founder and a member
of the first faculty of the newly established Jefferson Medical College.
In 1825, its initial year of operation, Jefferson Medical College opened a small inpatient
infirmary in its first home, the converted Tivoli Theater. At a time when few hospitals
existed and surgeons performed operations in their patients’ homes, this humble beginning
was the first time American medical students had the opportunity to follow patients from
surgery and observe their postoperative recovery. The vision of Jefferson’s founder set in
motion a flow of innovation that continues today.
In 1838, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania granted Jefferson Medical College its
own charter and its association with Jefferson College in Canonsburg was terminated. In
1877, a teaching hospital in a separate building was established, the second of its kind in
the U.S.
By the mid-nineteenth century, Jefferson’s Dr. Samuel Gross was widely acclaimed as
the greatest American surgeon of his time. The Gross Clinic by Thomas Eakins, which
depicts Dr. Gross performing surgery before an audience of medical students is regarded as
one of the foremost paintings by an American artist and is permanently displayed in the
Eakins Gallery in Jefferson Alumni Hall.
A School of Nursing (diploma program) was established in 1891. The Jefferson College
of Health Professions, established in 1967, provides graduate and undergraduate degree
programs in nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, bioscience technologies,
radiologic sciences, and general studies. In 1949, Jefferson organized a graduate program
in basic medical sciences. This grew into the Jefferson College of Graduate Studies, accredited
in 1969, the same year that the institution achieved university status and was renamed
Thomas Jefferson University. Along with Jefferson Medical College, these Colleges form
the three academic divisions of Thomas Jefferson University with a total annual enrollmentof more than 2,600 students. Since 1970, Jefferson Medical College has also been the
medical school for the state of Delaware. Beginning with its first commencement in 1826,
Jefferson has awarded more than 30,000 degrees.
Although Jefferson’s structure was altered dramatically, its principal mission to provide
the finest healthcare education never changed. Excellence is still being pursued with its
prime objective to produce competent practitioners and healthcare professionals. The personal
contact between students and faculty, an integral part of all teaching in the University,
is especially important during clinical rotations. Jefferson students and residents as
measured by national licensure examinations, residency and employment positions secured,
and subsequent academic appointments, are consistently high achievers.
As a major academic health center, Thomas Jefferson University and Thomas Jefferson
University Hospital occupy a 13-acre Center City campus and treat more than 39,000
inpatients and 445,000 outpatients every year.
Alumni and faculty of Jefferson have made significant contributions to medicine. The
university’s accomplishments include the development of the first modern military field
ambulance system during the Civil War, the earliest production of pure ether and the
establishment of drug purity standards, the discovery of the cause of yellow fever, development
of the heart-lung machine, development of the first preventive medicine health risk
appraisal system, development of the artificial tendon, development of the first nurse-anesthetist
training program, development of innovative approaches to assist the frail elderly
and caregivers of patients with Alzheimers disease and dementia, and the discovery of the
gene for childhood leukemia.
In the 1960s, Jefferson made a significant commitment to research with the construction
of Jefferson Alumni Hall. That commitment was reinforced in 1991, with the opening
of the Bluemle Life Sciences Building, which doubled the institution’s research space.
Public and private funding of Jefferson research exceeds $133 million annually.
Widely recognized for their innovative research, University scientists are members in
the scientific community’s most prestigious organizations including the National Academy
of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. Many of them chair organizations that set
standards for medical care. Jefferson researchers’ work appears regularly in such journals as
Nature, Cell, Science, and New England Journal of Medicine.
Past Presidents
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