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Harvard Medical School

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Harvard Medical School
File:Harvard shield-Medical.png
TypePrivate
Established1782
EndowmentUS$3.26 Billion [1]
DeanBarbara McNeil until September 1st, 2007
Academic staff
11,049
Students1,206
616 MD
155 MD-PhD
435 PhD
Location
Boston
,
Massachusetts
,
USA
CampusUrban
Websitewww.hms.harvard.edu

Harvard Medical School (HMS) is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University. It is a prestigious American medical school located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.

As of Fall 2006, HMS is home to 616 students in the M.D. program, 435 in the Ph.D. program, and 155 in the M.D.-Ph.D program.[1] HMS M.D.-Ph.D program allows a student to receive an M.D. from HMS and a Ph.D from either Harvard or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (see Medical Scientist Training Program).

The school has a large and distinguished faculty to support its missions of education, research, and clinical care. These faculty hold appointments in the basic science departments on the HMS Quadrangle, and in the clinical departments located in multiple Harvard-affiliated hospitals and institutions in Boston. There are approximately 2,900 full- and part-time voting faculty members consisting of assistant, associate, and full professors, and over 5,000 full or part-time non-voting instructors.

Prospective students apply to one of two tracks to the M.D. degree. New Pathway, the larger of the two programs, emphasizes problem-based learning. HST, operated by the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, emphasizes medical research. Starting with the class of 2010, the New Pathway curriculum is being revised in an effort led by Dean of Medical Education Jules Dienstag.

The current acting Dean of the medical school is Dr. Barbara McNeil, M.D., founder and Chair of the Department of Health Care Policy and a radiologist, following the retirement of Dr. Joseph B. Martin at the end of June 2007. According to a July 2007 news release by the Harvard Gazette, Dr. Jeffrey S. Flier, Chief Academic Officer of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a diabetes specialist, will become the new Dean on September 1st, 2007.

History

Harvard Medical School quadrangle, view from Longwood Avenue.

The school is the third oldest medical school in the US and was founded by Dr. John Warren in 1782 with a faculty of three: John Warren, Benjamin Waterhouse, and Aaron Dexter. The first lectures were given in the basement of Harvard Hall and then in Holden Chapel. The first class, comprised of 2 students, graduated in 1788.

It was moved from Cambridge to 49 Marlborough Street in Boston in 1810. From 1816 to 1846, the school, known as Massachusetts Medical College of Harvard University, was located on Mason Street. In 1847, the school relocated to North Grove Street, and then to Copley Square in 1883. The medical school moved to its current location on Longwood Avenue in 1906, where the "Great White Quadrangle" with its 5 white marble buildings was established.[2][3]

Major teaching affiliates

These three institutions are often referred to as the "Harvard Trinity" by students and faculty. This is because their affiliations have been in place for the greatest period of time and every department is directly affiliated with the medical school.

Teaching affiliates

Student life

Second Year Show

Every winter second year students at HMS write, direct and perform a full length musical parody, lampooning Harvard, their professors, and themselves. 2007 was the Centennial performance as the Class of 2009 presented "Joseph Martin and the Amazing Technicolor White Coat"[4] to sellout crowds at Roxbury Community College on February 22, 23 and 24.[5]

Societies

Harvard Medical School is divided into five societies named after famous HMS alums, with the exception of HST. Upon matriculation, medical and dental students are assigned to a society. Each has a society master along with several associate society masters who serve as academic advisors to students. In the New Pathway program, students work in small group tutorials and lab sessions within their societies. Every year, the five societies compete in "Society Olympics" for the famed Pink Flamingo in a series of events (e.g. dance-off, dodgeball) that test the talents of the students in each society. HST currently possesses the Pink Flamingo.[6]

In fiction

In Samuel Shem's book, The House of God, the medical school and its students are referred to as BMS (Best Medical School/Students). The novel is set in the famed Beth Israel Deaconess hospital in Boston where the author spent his internship year.

Notable alumni

Fictional alumni

See also

Reference

  1. ^ a b "Harvard Medicine - Basic Facts". Retrieved February 25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ "Harvard Medical School - History". Retrieved February 25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "Countway Medical Library - Records Management - Historical Notes". Retrieved February 25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "Class of 2009 Second Year Show". Retrieved March 11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ "SECOND YEAR SHOW: New Curriculum Debuts in Second Year Show". Retrieved March 11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "HST MD Class of 2009 Wins HMS Society Olympics". Retrieved March 2. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
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