Exciting things are happening at New York University School of Medicine in all three areas of our mission—medical education, scientific research, and patient care. On the following pages, you’ll learn about the unique strengths, proud traditions, and recent initiatives that will ensure our reputation as one of the nation’s finest medical schools well into the 21st century.

More than 150 Years of Medical Excellence
NYU School of Medicine traces its roots to 1841. As the Medical College of the University of New York, it admitted its first class of 239 students to a four-month course of lectures conducted by the six professors on the faculty.

Over the years, the medical enterprise evolved. The old Bellevue Hospital Medical College, established in 1861, was merged in 1898 with New York University Medical College to form the University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College. The combined institutions became known as New York University College of Medicine in 1935. In 1960, the name was changed to NYU School of Medicine.

From the start, the School and its graduates have been at the forefront of medical education, scientific research, and patient care. Two alumni, Drs. Jonas Salk (’39) and Albert Sabin (’31), developed vaccines for polio, and one of our faculty members, Dr. Saul Krugman, helped to develop a vaccine for hepatitis B. While affiliated with NYU, Dr. Howard Rusk, for whom our world-renowned Rusk Institute is named, pioneered the field of rehabilitation medicine following World War II.

The School counts among its faculty and alumni three Nobel laureates: Dr. Severo Ochoa, who conducted landmark studies in biochemical genetics and nucleic acids; Dr. Baruj Benacerraf, who performed groundbreaking research on genetic regulation of the immune system; and Dr. Eric Kandel (’56), who made outstanding contributions to understanding basic mechanisms of the nervous system.

At Bellevue Hospital, where our medical students receive much of their clinical training, NYU physicians helped to establish the nation’s first outpatient department, as well as departments of rehabilitation medicine and forensic pathology. NYU physicians at Bellevue were the first to identify Kaposi’s sarcoma as an early symptom of AIDS.
Today, the School boasts 1,388 full-time faculty and 3,477 part-time faculty, with 61 endowed professorships. There are 660 medical students, 1,060 residents/fellows, 80 M.D./Ph.D. candidates, and 4,979 post-graduate registrants.