History

Today's Feinberg School began in 1859 as the medical department of Lind University and became Chicago Medical College in 1864. Affiliation with Northwestern University took place in 1870.

Founded on the ideals of reforming the medical education system in place in the mid-19th century, Northwestern led the way in advancing the education and training of physicians. At a time when a student could enter at will almost any medical school and earn a degree by attending two sets of identical lectures, presenting a thesis, and passing an oral examination, the medical school's founders rebelled against convention and demanded an extended program, correlated hospital instruction, a graded curriculum, and rigorous requirements for graduation.

Most U.S. medical colleges lagged behind Northwestern's innovations in medical education, and some 40 years passed before other institutions began adopting the advances the medical school introduced during its first decade. Groundbreaking educational reform has occurred throughout the school's history. Northwestern instituted selective admission standards and offered laboratory work and formal courses on bacteriology when the germ theory of disease was still disputed.

In the 1960s the medical school premiered two programs that have become common features at many institutions. The Honors Program in Medical Education, founded in 1961, was one of the first combined baccalaureate–medical degree programs in the country. In 1963 Northwestern became one of the first three medical schools to receive a grant from the National Institutes of Health establishing the Medical Scientist Training Program, a combined MD/PhD degree program.

The medical school remains committed to educating well-rounded and highly competent physicians through educational reform. A major curriculum change came in 1993 with the inauguration of active learning formats such as seminars, problem-based learning groups, and laboratories in the first and second years of medical school to promote collaborative as well as independent study. Changes in the third- and fourth-year curriculum were implemented in the 2001–02 academic year and are ongoing. They range from extending the formal emphasis on professional growth and development issues to providing opportunities for students to teach other medical students as they prepare themselves for the future roles they will play in the education of their students, colleagues, and patients.

In 2002 Northwestern University Medical School was renamed Feinberg School of Medicine in recognition of the generosity of the Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation.

Related Links

Honors Program in Medical Education

Medical Scientist Training Program a combined MD/PhD program

Education

Medical Student Curriculum and Course Schedules

Medical School Renamed Feinberg School of Medicine