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New York Medical College: An early center of excellence in American Medical education

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Abstract

Originating in 1850, the New York Medical College was one of the earliest medical schools to adopt the educational reforms advocated by the American Medical Association. This college lengthened the school term, employed more professors than usual and established a separate Board of Censors to approve students for their medical degrees. In addition, the New York Medical College initiated bedside clinical teaching using a 27 bed hospital under its own control. In an era when many medical schools were little more than diploma mills, the New York Medical College created educational reforms that were not adopted by other schools until many years later. Due to a combination of causes the New York Medical College only existed from 1850 to 1864. However, the effort to reform medical education was significant and should not be overlooked. Incidentally, the New York Medical College of 1850 to 1864 was in no way related to the currently existing medical school of the same name.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Medicine & Community Health, SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Box 43, 11203, Brooklyn, NY

    Allen D. Spiegel PhD, MPH

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  1. Allen D. Spiegel PhD, MPH
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Allen D. Spiegel is Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at the State University of New York, Health Science Center at Brooklyn, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.

I wish to thank the following people for their generous assistance in answering questions, in rounding out the missing details, in providing photos and in reviewing the manuscript: Kathleen S. Andersen, Milbank Memorial Fund; Michelle Biondi, Archivist, New York; Ellen F. Carr, Director of Public Relations, New York Medical College; Donald H. Dederick, Interlibary Loan Librarian, State University of New York, Health Science Center at Brooklyn; Leonora Gidlund, Archivist, New York City Municipal Records; Thomas S. Huddle, M.D., University of Alabama Medical School; Adele Lerner, Archivist, Cornell University Medical Center; Judy Meyers, Archivist, New York Medical College; Kenneth Ludmerer, M.D., Washington University Medical School; Adrienne Millon-Levin and Anne Pasquale, Rare Book Librarians, New York Academy of Medicine; Eric Myerhoff, Archivist, New York University Medical Center; Jack Termine, Archivist, State University of New York, Health Science Center at Brooklyn.

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Spiegel, A.D. New York Medical College: An early center of excellence in American Medical education. J Community Health 18, 293–315 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01321790

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