NYU Langone History

Jump to: Notes on 19th Century Medical Education |  Evolution of NYU Langone |  Bellevue and the “Divisions”

NYU Langone has a proud history that goes back to 1837 and includes initiation of and participation in many significant events in American medicine over the course of almost two centuries.

• In 1837, six years after the granting of the first University charter, the minutes of the meetings of the University Council contained the names of men suggested as professors for the chief branches of medical instruction.

• In 1841, the Medical College of New York University was organized, and admitted its first class of 239 students to a four month course of lectures conducted by the six professors on the faculty.

• The 1841 faculty consisted of:
  • Professor Valentine Mott, Surgery
  • Professor John W. Draper, Chemistry
  • Professor Granville S. Pattison, Anatomy
  • Professor Gunning S. Bedford, Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children
  • Professor John Revere, Theory and Practice of Medicine

  • Professor Martyn Paine, Institutes of Medicine and Materia Medical

• Clinical instruction began in Bellevue Hospital in 1847.  In 1861, Bellevue Hospital Medical College was founded and a college building was erected on the hospital grounds.

• The Bellevue Hospital Medical College merged with University Medical College of New York University to form the University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1898. The combined institutions became the New York University College of Medicine in 1935.  In 1960, the name was changed to the New York University School of Medicine.

• The faculty of the Medical College, particularly Drs. John W. Draper and Martyn Paine, is largely responsible for the passing of 1854 legislation known as "The Bone Bill" in New York State, legalizing the dissection of the human body.

Notes on 19th Century Medical Education

In the 1850’s, in order to graduate from NYU, students had to be at least 21 years old, have studied medicine for three years under the direction of a "respectable medical practitioner", have attended two medical lectures, one of which had to be at NYU, and write a thesis. At this time, it was not unusual for a physician to have degrees from two different medical schools.

Evolution of NYU Langone

1841-1898 University Medical College

1861-1898 Bellevue Hospital Medical College

1882-1948 New York Post-Graduate Medical School

1882-1948 New York Post-Graduate Hospital

1898-1935 University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York University

1935-1960 New York University College of Medicine (formerly University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York University)

1945-1948 Post-Graduate Division, NYU College of Medicine

1948 New York University Post-Graduate Medical School (merger of New York Post-Graduate Medical School and NYU Post-Graduate Division)

1948-1989 University Hospital (formerly the New York Post-Graduate Hospital, new building in 1963)

1948-2008 New York University Medical Center

1960 New York University College of Medicine is renamed New York University School of Medicine

1989 University Hospital is renamed Tisch Hospital

2008 New York University Medical Center is renamed NYU Langone Medical Center

2017 NYU Langone Medical Center is renamed NYU Langone Health

Bellevue and the “Divisions”

1860 - 1^st Medical, Second Surgical Divisions – Columbia