Historical Highlights

• 
  1909
  Professor John Maxson Stillman is appointed Executive Head of the Stanford Medical Department. First class of students entered the Stanford Medical Department (now the Stanford School of Medicine).
• 
  1911
  Dr. Ryman Wilbur appointed Professor of Medicine and Executive Head of the Medical Department at Stanford University, succeeding Professor J.M. Stillman.
• 
  1916
  Dr. Albion Hewlett succeeds Wilbur as Professor of the Department of Medicine and its subdivisions.
• 
  1926
  Dr. Arthur Bloomfield is First Chair of the Department of Medicine. Dr. Bloomfield conducted one-on-one medical Grand Rounds at the bedside of three-to-five patients.
• 
  1954
  Dr. David Rytand takes over as Chair. In 1958 Rytand became the first Arthur L. Bloomfield Professor of Medicine.
• 
  1959
  Medical School moves from San Francisco to Stanford University campus and is known as Palo-Alto Stanford Hospital Center.
• 
  1960
  Dr. Halsted Holman is named Chair and serves from 1960-1971. With the goal to develop emerging science and clinical practice, Dr. Holman hires new young faculty members who eventually become leaders in their individual specialties. Dr. Holman received the Presidential Gold Medal from the American College of Rheumatology in 2001.
• 
  1960
  Dr. Roy Cohn from Stanford performs the successful renal transplant in the western United States on identical twins.
• 
  1968
  First adult heart transplant in the United States is performed at Stanford by Drs. Norman Shumway, Edward Stinson, Eugene Dong and colleagues.
• 
  1971
  Dr. John W. Farquhar establishes The Stanford Prevention Program (SHDPP) to conduct research into the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.
• 
  1971
  Nephrology Division is founded.  In 2005, Stanford’s adult kidney transplant program reported having best one-year survival rate—about 98% for 4 consecutive years— out of a nationwide field of 246 centers evaluated.
• 
  1973
  Daniel Federman becomes Chair and strengthens Department of Medicine clinical programs.
• 
  1978
  Dr. Kenneth Melmon is appointed Chair. He starts Stanford Medical Group and Stanford Community of Internists. Dr. Melmon developed eSKOLAR an electronic medical information system, established Albion Walter Hewett Award.
• 
  1981
  Dr. Bruce Reitz performs the first successful combined heart-lung transplant.
• 
  1982
  Medical Informatics Sciences program is established to manage health care data. Program is now called Stanford Center for Biomedical Informatics Research (BMIR).
• 
  1983
  First Hewlett award is presented to Dr. Saul A. Rosenberg. Stanford’s Health Improvement Program (HIP) is launched.
• 
  1984
  Cardiovascular division opens The Falk Center. The Stanford Prevention Research Center (SPRC) is formed, which incorporated the activities of Stanford Heart Disease Program.
• 
  1987
  Initiation of Bone Marrow Transplant Program. BMT program currently provides transplants to 200 patients yearly.
• 
  1988
  Edward Harris is Chair. He works with Dr. Saul Rosenberg to establish medical center faculty line. He redevelops leadership in Gastroenterology, Infectious Diseases, and Oncology and created the Division of Family and Community Medicine.
• 
  1997
  Dr. Judith Swain becomes Chair. Together with Dean Dr. Eugene Bauer, The Center for Evaluation of Health Care Practices and Advancement of Primary Care is launched.
• 
  1999
  SPRC started the first study of nicotine replacement for smoking cessation with adolescents.
• 
  2005
  Drs. Harry Greenberg and Norm Rizk serve as interim co-chairs of the Department of Medicine.
• 
  2006
  Ralph Horwitz is appointed Chair of the Department of Medicine. He is internationally known for his pioneering research that helped to establish the field of clinical investigation and outcomes research.

A Look Back at People and Events That Shaped Stanford Medicine

Hold your mouse over each year to learn more about the people and events from that time.