Indiana University School of Medicine

The Indiana University School of Medicine emerged from a number of private, proprietary medical schools that existed in Indianapolis in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The political struggle and uncertainty to establish the Indiana University School of Medicine was divided by groups with competing loyalties to Indiana University and Purdue University, as both universities were aiming to establish a medical school.

In March 1903, Indiana University President William Lowe Bryan proposed to establish a Medical Department in Bloomington to the Indiana University Board of Trustees. The proposal was approved and courses in anatomy and physiology were taught beginning in September 1903, marking the early stages of what would eventually become the Indiana University School of Medicine.

However, Purdue University was the first to successfully create a School of Medicine program. Through the merger of three medical schools; the Medical College of Indiana at Indianapolis (founded in 1869), the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons of Indianapolis (founded in 1879), and the Ft. Wayne College of Medicine at Ft. Wayne, Indiana (founded in 1879), the Medical College of Indiana, containing the School of Medicine of Purdue University, was formed in September 1905.

In order to compete with Purdue University, the State College of Physicians and Surgeons of Indianapolis (formerly the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons of Indianapolis) was acquired by Bloomington through fundraising in January 1906. Together with the Bloomington Medical Department, the State College of Physicians and Surgeons of Indianapolis merged in 1907 to form the start of the Indiana University School of Medicine program. The first commencement from the Indiana University School of Medicine occurred on May 18, 1907, in Bloomington, Indiana. Twenty-five students received their medical degree.

On April 7, 1908, amid the continuous uncertainty and struggle, an agreement consolidating the two universities’ programs (the Medical College of Indiana, the School of Medicine of Purdue University and the Indiana University School of Medicine) was signed, forming the official Indiana University School of Medicine. This was a victory for Indiana University, as in doing so Purdue President Winthrop Ellsworth Stone officially surrendered Purdue University’s right to operate a medical school to Indiana University. The agreement called for all four years of medical curriculum to be carried out in Indianapolis, while the first two years would continue to be taught also in Bloomington. In May 1908, Allison Maxwell was named the first dean of the School of Medicine.

Charles P. Emerson was the first chairman of the Department of Medicine and succeeded Maxwell as dean of the School of Medicine in July 1911. Under Emerson’s leadership, several buildings still in use in Indianapolis for the IU School of Medicine were dedicated and the Indiana University Medical Center began to take shape. This includes the June 15, 1914 completion of Long Hospital (renamed Long Hall), the first teaching hospital, named after the donation of Robert W. Long, an Indianapolis physician; the September 1919 completion of the Medical School Building (now Emerson Hall), the new School of Medicine building renamed in honor or Charles P. Emerson; the October 7, 1924 completion of Riley Hospital for Children, built in agreement with the Riley Memorial Association (now the Riley Children’s Foundation), created in memory of Hoosier Poet James Whitcomb Riley; the October 1927 competition of Coleman Hospital for Women (now Coleman Hall), the state’s first hospital devoted to obstetrics and gynecology, named after the donation of William H. Coleman; and the 1928 completion of Ball Residence Hall for Nurses, named after the donation of the Ball Brothers from Muncie, Indiana.

Willis D. Gatch became the third dean of the School of Medicine in June 1932. He brought the school through the Great Depression and World War II. During the War, the Indiana University School of Medicine participated in a national, accelerated education program that permitted new doctors to graduate in three rather than four years. Although a time of limited resources, the School carried out the completion of the Clinical Building in 1937, housing the laboratory, operating rooms, a morgue, and interns’ quarters; an annex addition to Ball Residence Hall; and the completion of the State Board of Health Building (now Fesler Hall) in 1939. While fighting to meet payrolls, Gatch saw the school through advances in research and treatment such as the addition of the Hydrotherapeutic Pool for polio treatment at Riley Hospital in 1935; the Drunk-o-meter test for alcohol, invented by Rolla N. Harger in 1931, becoming the first patent transferred to this university in 1938; and advances in burn treatment through Harold M. Trusler in 1939. It was during Gatch’s time that the Indianapolis campus officially became known as the Indiana University Medical Center in 1936.

John D. Van Nuys officially became the first full-time dean of the School of Medicine in September 1947. During his years of service to the school, all four years of the undergraduate medical courses were consolidated in Indianapolis, research funding increased from $11,000 when he became dean to $5 million by 1963, and physicians who taught part-time while continuing their private practices were replaced by full-time faculty members. A number of buildings were also built during Van Nuys time, including the 1952 completion of the Roudebush VA Medical Center; the 1953 completion of the LaRue Carter Memorial Hospital, a psychiatric facility; and the 1958 completion of the Medical Sciences Building (now Van Nuys Medical Science Building), which was what finally enabled all four years of the School of Medicine to take place in Indianapolis. During this period, the school grew to become the third-largest in the United States.

In March 1965, Glenn W. Irwin, Jr. became dean and presided over the school’s implementation of the “Indiana Plan” in April 1966, which called for a coordinated statewide system of undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education. In 1969, the School of Medicine became a part of IUPUI. As the largest component of Indiana University located in Indianapolis, the School of Medicine played a leading role in the development of the Indianapolis campus. During Irwin’s tenure, Indiana University Hospital opened in January 1970, replacing aging Long and Coleman buildings, and adding nearly 250 new adult patient beds to accommodate the growing needs of clinical care driven by the passage of Medicare and Medicaid.

When Irwin became Chancellor of IUPUI, Steven C. Beering replaced him as dean in March 1974 and continued to increase the number of faculty to provide comprehensive care in medicine. In 1975, the School of Medicine took over the management of Marion County General Hospital (renamed Wishard Memorial Hospital; now Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital), integrating and coordinating the operation of the hospital into its own programs of teaching, research, and patient care. In 1983, the School of Medicine was awarded a new contract with Wishard Memorial Hospital in which it was given fiscal and medical control of the facility. The School of Medicine also managed clinical care in Roudebush VA Hospital and LaRue Carter Memorial Hospital, both adjacent to campus.

In July 1983, Walter J. Daly became dean and through several research institutes, fostered significant growth in research funding, increasing it from $17 million in 1983 to more than $78 million in 1993. New building also went up, including the Medical Research Library building in 1989. However, the School’s budget was drastically reduced from 1991-1993, resulting in a $7 million deficit. This led to the decision to merge the School of Medicine’s teaching hospitals with Methodist Hospital of Indiana in 1995.

Robert W. Holden became dean in November 1995 and completed the merger to form Clarian Health Partners (renamed Indiana University Health Partners in 2011) in 1997. This merged Riley and Indiana University hospitals along with Methodist Hospital. After Holden, D. Craig Brater became dean of the School of Medicine in July 2000. The same year, the Lilly Endowment awarded the IU School of Medicine $105 million for the Indiana Genomics Initiative, which helped dramatically expand the human and technical infrastructure needed to conduct biomedical research driven by the newly deciphered human genome.

Currently, Jay L. Hess is dean, succeeding the position from Brater in 2013. Now a nine-campus medical school in Indiana (Bloomington, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Gary, Muncie, South Bend, Terre Haute, and West Lafayette), thanks to the implementation of the “Indiana Plan” by Irwin back in 1966, the IU School of Medicine is the largest accredited school of medicine in the nation.