Rush University - Rush Medical College

Información

Anticipating its one hundred seventy-fifth anniversary in 2012, Rush Medical College's history represents an extraordinary legacy in the history of American medicine. Young Daniel Brainard, MD, a New York native educated in Philadelphia, founded Rush not long after his arrival in the village of Chicago. The new college, like its city, gained its charter the first week of March 1837.

Dr. Brainard named Chicago's first medical college, one of the first west of older eastern schools, in honor of Benjamin Rush, MD, physician statesman who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

During the 19th century Rush grew with its dynamic city. In the manner of most medical schools in the 1800s Rush was a proprietary institution owned and operated by a group of physicians who had joined Dr. Brainard in establishing practices in young Chicago.

By the beginning of the 20th century, Rush was among the nation's largest and most distinguished medical schools. At that time Rush's faculty "proprietors" accepted a proposal to affiliate with the then new University of Chicago. It was a happy development for both institutions. University affiliation brought Rush the research academic connection central to twentieth century medical school organization. Futhermore, the university helped Rush students and faculty create a "new" Rush whose reputation equaled that of the earlier Rush.

However, by World War II, Rush and the University of Chicago became convinced that their affiliation no longer suited their respective missions. In 1942 Rush develped an affiliation with the University of Illinois' College of Medicine. That college was the Chicago west side medical district neighbor of Rush and Presbyterian Hospital, its traditional teaching facility. Central to the new arrangement was the decision to suspend medical education except for a role at Presbyterian Hospital for clinical care teaching of advanced students.

The agreement included the opportunity to reconsider in the late 1960s. At that time Rush Medical College accepted the proposal of Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital to merge its historic charter with the large teaching hospital and to resume accepting students studying for the doctor of medicine. In 1956 Chicago's distinguished St. Luke's Hospital had accepted Rush's teaching hospital's invitation to merge to organize the critical mass of resources contemporary teaching medical centers need.

Rush trustees and alumni were impressed by budding plans for The Rush System for Health. Impressive plans for a new medical complex were presented as the College considered renewing full instructional capabilities as part of the Rush University Medical Center. A renewed and revitalized Rush Medical College would be a key educational component to help guarantee the success of the comprehensive vision for healthcare research, education, and delivery the Rush System for Health represented. System plans, articulated originally by a group of distinguished physicians at Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital, continues to inspire the growth and development of Rush University Medical Center and Rush University.

In the first decade of the 21st century, 170 year old Rush Medical College continues to animate the Rush System for Health as the center for research, education and clinical care implicit in Dr. Brainard's 1837 hopes. During the last quarter century, Rush Medical College has re-established its place as a locus of research and medical education.