In 1811 Brown became the third university in the nation to offer academic medical education. The initial program lasted sixteen years. The program was revived in 1963 with funding provided from the University, state and federal governments, and private foundations. Dr. Pierre Galletti, the University’s first dean of biology and medicine, Dr. Milton Hamolsky, chief of medicine at Rhode Island Hospital, and Professor of Biology J. Walter Wilson were among the prime movers in the creation of the Master of Medical Science program. Initially a continuum of four years of undergraduate study and just two of graduate study in basic science, the program sparked growth in the Brown faculty and in the staffs of collaborating hospitals, as joint appointments and new training programs were created. a four-year medical program developed under the leadership of Dr. Stanley Aronson, founding dean of medicine, Dr. David Greer, associate and later second dean, and a cohort of medical students and faculty committed to a novel re-imagining of medical education. The full medical degree program was launched in 1972, bringing with it clinical clerkships at seven affiliated hospitals and an infusion of new specialists, new laboratories, new research programs, and new clinical services. The Division of Biology and Medicine is composed of Alpert Medical School, the Program in Biology, and the Public Health Program. In 2011, the Alpert Medical School occupied the first building in its history dedicated to housing the core facilities for academic medicine under one roof.
From the guide to the Brown University Medical School records, 1963-2007, (John Hay Library Special Collections)
