We make

HISTORY!

Who better to shape the future of health care?

1850

Blue-tinted framed photo: a two-story building with five windows on the second floor, a front porch, and a centered path leading to the front door.

The first university to make its medical school a full part of the university, with physicians as faculty and a goal to be “an example worthy of imitation”

1869

Blue-tinted photo: a one-story Victorian building with a steep roof and many cupulas. About 20 men in suits and top hats stand and lounge on the lawn.

First university-owned hospital

1870

Blue-tinted photo: three women (two seated and one standing) wear white dresses and face each other on the left. Four men in dark suits stand on the right, facing the women.

The first university to offer admission to women

1906

Blue-tinted photo: Angled view of a long, three-story building with many windows and a central cupula on the roof over the front entrance.

First hospital devoted to definitive diagnosis and treatment of mental illness

1947

Blue-tinted photo: A large building about 10 stories tall with two wings extending from the front.

First Veterans Readjustment Center at a U.S. teaching hospital

1955

Blue-tinted photo: Jonas Salk injects a polio vaccine into a girl’s arm. The girl is seated on the left and a woman in glasses leans over to help pull up the girl’s left sleeve.

First large-scale clinical trial of the Salk polio vaccine in kids

1968

Blue-tinted photo: Three surgeons perform cardiac surgery. They are grouped around and facing an operating table and are holding tools under bright lights.

First coronary bypass operation and first heart transplant in Michigan

1989

Blue-tinted photo: Francis Collins, M.D., seated in a laboratory setting, wearing glasses, a tie, and a white coat.

Faculty member Francis Collins, M.D., and team isolate the gene for cystic fibrosis — the first disease shown to result from changes in a gene

2001

Blue-tinted photo: The Rachel Upjohn Building features large sections of glass alternating with brick. An angled awning extends over the entrance and a sign in front identifies the building.

Nation’s first comprehensive facility for depression and related diseases, today the Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg and Family Depression Center

2015

Blue-tinted photo: A health care professional transports a critically ill person lying on a stretcher.

Emergency Critical Care Center, one of the first of its kind in the nation

2018

Blue-tinted photo: A section of the Rogel Cancer Center featuring a block M and the building’s name displayed prominently.

The Rogel Cancer Center is first in Michigan to offer all FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapies

2020

Blue-tinted photo: Two health care professionals in PPE stand over a bed in a hospital room. The patient is not visible and medical equipment is in the background.

ECMO, developed decades earlier to save premature babies’ lives by emeritus faculty member Robert Bartlett, M.D., is used to treat desperately ill COVID-19 patients around the world

2020

Blue-tinted photo: Portrait of Terry Smith, M.D., wearing a tie and a white coat. He is looking to the viewer’s right.

Tepezza becomes the first drug treatment for thyroid eye disease, based on work led by faculty member Terry Smith, M.D.

2023

Blue-tinted photo: A woman wearing a blazer stands and points to an image on a monitor. She appears to be giving a presentation or discussing what she sees.

FDA approves histotripsy for liver tumors — sound waves for knifeless surgery

We make

HISTORY!

Who better to shape the future of health care?

1850

Blue-tinted framed photo: a two-story building with five windows on the second floor, a front porch, and a centered path leading to the front door.

The first university to make its medical school a full part of the university, with physicians as faculty and a goal to be “an example worthy of imitation”

1869

Blue-tinted photo: a one-story Victorian building with a steep roof and many cupulas. About 20 men in suits and top hats stand and lounge on the lawn.

First university-owned hospital

1870

Blue-tinted photo: three women (two seated and one standing) wear white dresses and face each other on the left. Four men in dark suits stand on the right, facing the women.

The first university to offer admission to women

1906

Blue-tinted photo: Angled view of a long, three-story building with many windows and a central cupula on the roof over the front entrance.

Opened the first hospital devoted to definitive diagnosis and treatment of mental illness

1947

Blue-tinted photo: A large building about 10 stories tall with two wings extending from the front.

First Veterans Readjustment Center at a U.S. teaching hospital

1955

Blue-tinted photo: Jonas Salk injects a polio vaccine into a girl’s arm. The girl is seated on the left and a woman in glasses leans over to help pull up the girl’s left sleeve.

First large-scale clinical trial of the Salk polio vaccine in kids

1968

Blue-tinted photo: Three surgeons perform cardiac surgery. They are grouped around and facing an operating table and are holding tools under bright lights.

First coronary bypass operation and first heart transplant in Michigan

1989

Blue-tinted photo: Francis Collins, M.D., seated in a laboratory setting, wearing glasses, a tie, and a white coat.

Faculty member Francis Collins, M.D., and team isolate the gene for cystic fibrosis — the first disease shown to result from changes in a gene

2001

Blue-tinted photo: The Rachel Upjohn Building features large sections of glass alternating with brick. An angled awning extends over the entrance and a sign in front identifies the building.

Nation’s first comprehensive facility for depression and related diseases, today the Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg and Family Depression Center

2015

Blue-tinted photo: A health care professional transports a critically ill person lying on a stretcher.

Emergency Critical Care Center, one of the first of its kind in the nation

2018

Blue-tinted photo: A section of the Rogel Cancer Center featuring a block M and the building’s name displayed prominently.

The Rogel Cancer Center is first in Michigan to offer all FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapies

2020

Blue-tinted photo: Two health care professionals in PPE stand over a bed in a hospital room. The patient is not visible and medical equipment is in the background.

ECMO, developed decades earlier to save premature babies’ lives by emeritus faculty member Robert Bartlett, M.D., used to treat desperately ill COVID-19 patients around the world

2020

Blue-tinted photo: Portrait of Terry Smith, M.D., wearing a tie and a white coat. He is looking to the viewer’s right.

Tepezza becomes the first drug treatment for thyroid eye disease, based on work led by faculty member Terry Smith, M.D.

2023

Blue-tinted photo: A woman wearing a blazer stands and points to an image on a monitor. She appears to be giving a presentation or discussing what she sees.

FDA approves histotripsy for liver tumors — sound waves for knifeless surgery

Visit the Michigan Medicine History page to learn how we have transformed health care over the years.

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