Department History
A timeline of highlights since the department’s founding
2023
Bonnie Maldonado is appointed interim chair following Bob Harrington’s departure as chair after 11 years
Bonnie Maldonado
2022
William H. Robinson publishes a paper with Lawrence Steinman on the link between infection with the Epstein Barr virus and multiple sclerosis
William H. Robinson
2021
Launch of Post Acute COVID-19 Syndrome (PACS) Clinic, co-directed by Linda Geng and Hector Bonilla
Hector Bonilla and Linda Geng
2017
The Stanford-Meharry Initiative, later the Stanford-HBMC Summer Research Program, launches
Stanford-HBMC Summer Research Program members
2015
Purvesh Khatri and his associates find a genetic signature that enables early sepsis detection
David Relman and his team link a risk of premature birth to the composition of the mother’s vaginal bacterial community during pregnancy
Stanford Medicine purchases ValleyCare (now TriValley) in Pleasanton; Hospital Medicine staff are among the first to staff the new hospital
Purvesh Khatri
2014
Hannah Valantine, Stephen Quake, Kiran Khush, and Thomas Snyder develop a blood test that can detect heart transplant rejection
2012
Robert Harrington becomes department chair
Robert Harrington
2009
Abraham Verghese organizes the first Bedside Medicine Symposium, the precursor to the Stanford 25, also led by Verghese
Ravi Majeti, Irving Weissman, Mark Chao, and Siddhartha Jaiswal find that human leukemia cells escape detection by sending a “don’t eat me” signal
Abraham Verghese
2001
Paul Yock co-founds Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign with engineering professor Josh Makower, pioneering a new process for medical device innovation
Paul Yock
1993
William Haskell and colleagues demonstrate that aggressive lifestyle and drug therapy decrease heart attack rates and slow progression of atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries
Researcher Joel Killen is the lead author on a paper sharing findings from the first long-term, controlled study attempting to prevent adolescent eating disorders
1992
First family medicine clerkship launched
Ronald Levy develops a cancer vaccine to prevent recurrent lymphomas
1990
Shoshana Levy identifies a new family of proteins called tetraspanins and spawns a new field of cancer research
Paul Yock invents rapid exchange angioplasty and stenting system
Shoshana Levy
1989
Tom Merigan’s lab develops quantitative viral RNA assay to measure HIV viral load
Paul Yock files fundamental patents for intravascular ultrasound imaging, which produces cross-sectional images from inside of arteries
Tom Merigan
1987
Karl Blume completes the first successful bone marrow transplant
Mark Musen builds Protégé, a widely used platform for building and maintaining terminology and ontologies, including ICD-11
Karl Blume
1985
Georgette Stratos and Kelley Skeff introduce the “train the trainer” model in faculty development
Georgette Stratos and Kelley Skeff
1984
Richard Popp and colleagues develop a noninvasive method for estimating pressures in the heart using ultrasound
1981
Ronald Levy successfully uses monoclonal antibodies to treat cancer
John Simpson and Ned Robert develop a catheter system for coronary angioplasty with an independently steerable guidewire
Ronald Levy
1979
Bryan Myers publishes a landmark paper elucidating the properties of the human glomerulus and tubule in health and disease
1975
Peter Wood and colleagues discover a link between exercise and increased HDL cholesterol levels
Bill Robinson and colleagues successfully treat hepatitis B, previously incurable, with interferon, laying the groundwork for an eventual vaccine
Saul Rosenberg and Henry Kaplan develop new techniques for treating cancer patients with a combination of radiation and chemotherapy
Peter Wood
1974
Stanley Cohen and UCSF professor Herbert Boyer clone DNA and transplant genes from one living organism to another, paving the way for genetic engineering and DNA therapies
Bill Robinson isolates the genome of a virus that causes hepatitis B and a common form of liver cancer
Stanley Cohen
1972
Immunologist Hugh McDevitt discovers a new class of regulatory genes that controls the immune response to foreign substances
John Farquhar and Peter Wood conduct first U.S. studies of community-wide health education for preventing heart disease
Hugh McDevitt
1971
Peter Wood and John Farquhar conduct first multi-site clinical studies showing lowering cholesterol prevents heart disease
Peter Wood and John Farquhar
1968
John Farquhar and Gerald Reaven discover that insulin resistance is the principal physiologic characteristic of mild type-II diabetes and obesity
John Farquhar
1964
Judith Pool discovers a technique for extracting anti-hemophilic globulin, the blood fraction needed to prevent bleeding in hemophiliacs
Judith Pool
1963
Saul Rosenberg establishes one of the first academic oncology programs in the United States
Researchers in the Department of Medicine Oncology program
1961
Internal Medicine residency program begins with Saul Rosenberg as the program director
Saul Rosenberg
1960
Halsted Holman, age 35 at the time, becomes department chair
late 1950s–1960s
John Luetscher characterizes hyperaldosteronism, an endocrine disorder in which the adrenal glands produce too much aldosterone
John Luetscher
1957
Rose Payne discovers the role of human leukocyte antigens in the immune system, leading to tissue-matching techniques for organ transplants
1956
Former U.S. President Herbert Hoover serves as honorary chairman of a committee to fundraise for a medical center to be built on campus
1926
Arthur Bloomfield named chair of the Department of Medicine
Arthur Bloomfield
1925
A medicine clerkship is introduced for third-year medical students to provide practical ward experience
Patients under care
1921
The School of Medicine is reorganized into departments, including the Department of Medicine
1917
Nearly a dozen members of Stanford Medical Faculty, including Albion Walter Hewlett, are called to active service in Europe during the First World War
1916
Albion Walter Hewlett is appointed executive of what was then the Division of Medicine and its subdivisions
1914
The Department of Medicine becomes the School of Medicine and includes divisions of medicine, neurology, psychiatry, jurisprudence, and dermatology
1910
Ray L. Wilbur is appointed executive head of the Department of Medicine
1909
First year of medical instruction begins with students to receive MD degrees in 1913
Medical students in the early years of the Department of Medicine