About History of Medicine & Public Health

CHHASSEM’s discipline area in the History of Medicine and Public Health seeks to conduct top-quality research, education, and outreach that places contemporary medical dilemmas in their historical contexts to inform public health and medical policies and practices.

Our History of Medicine and Public Health discipline area traces its roots back to 1990, when Professor Nick Steneck conceived of an academic center that would act as the repository for historical documents and artifacts related to the history of the University of Michigan Medical School and would foster an understanding of the pioneering role the Medical School, its faculty, and its alumni have played in advancing knowledge of disease, promoting human health, and innovating in medical education. With support from the Medical School's Dean's Office, Steneck launched the Historical Center for the Health Sciences (HCHS) and served as its director for the next six years.  

In 1996, Dr. Howard Markel took over as director of HCHS.  Over the next several years, HCHS broadened its scope beyond just the University of Michigan Medical School. To reflect this shift, in 2002 its name was changed to the Center for the History of Medicine (CHM). In the subsequent two decades, CHM conducted a series of research collaborations with institutions such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that resulted in high-impact publications and reports that have since become the basis for federal, state, local, and even international pandemic preparedness and response guidelines. Through scholarship, lecture series, film screenings, major conferences, op-eds, and frequent media appearances, CHM disseminated widely the important work it conducted and highlighted the significance of the study of the history of medicine and its application to modern society.

In January 2025, CHM once again underwent a transformation, this time being incorporated into the newly created Center for History, Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Ethics in Medicine (CHHASSEM), with Dr. Laura Hirshbein as the faculty director of the discipline area in History of Medicine and Public Health.

We are eager to continue the important work of our antecedents as we embark on new and exciting scholarly projects, forge new collaborations, and create new programs and opportunities for outreach.

In 1847 the Regents of the University of Michigan approved the creation of a medical department, and the following year the search for what would become the original five faculty members began. Two years later, in 1850, the new Department of Medicine and Surgery (which would later become the Medical School) opened its doors to become the University’s first professional school.

From the outset, the Medical School was an innovator, as it was the first medical school in the United States to have a professional, paid faculty rather than physicians whose livelihood relied on the sale of tickets to attend their lectures. The original course of study was two years long and focused on basic science lectures. Starting in 1877, the Medical School transitioned to a three-year curriculum, and then in 1890 it expanded to a four-year program. It was then that the U-M Medical School began to transition to a world-class institution that could compete with the best European medical programs.  

Meanwhile, it was not a certainty that the Medical School would remain in Ann Arbor. Shortly after the school opened, some faculty members began campaigning to have the program moved to Detroit, where, they argued, a larger population and several hospitals would better serve to train students. The Regents, however, refused. Instead, in 1869, a small house on North University was converted to a 20-bed hospital, giving U-M medical students better access to real-world clinical training. It became the nation's first university-owned teaching hospital, and would serve as a model for other institutions to emulate. In 1899, the Medical School became the first institution in the U.S. to utilize clinical clerkships. This model became so successful that it set the standard for other medical schools as well.

Over the decades, the Medical School and its hospitals expanded in size and scope. The original building soon outgrew its usefulness and was replaced, and was then again moved to the outskirts of campus. The old 20-bed University Hospital was expanded, then replaced, and then replaced twice more.  

Today, the U-M Medical School continues as a leader in cutting-edge medical education, basic and clinical research, and patient care, following a tradition established at its founding. 

Numerous books have been published about the history of the University of Michigan Medical School, its faculty and graduates. A good reading list on the subject includes:

• Horace W. Davenport, Not Just Any Medical School: The Science, Practice, and Teaching of Medicine at the University of Michigan, 1850–1941 (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1999) View the Digital edition
• Horace W. Davenport, Doctor Dock: Teaching and Learning Medicine at the Turn of the Century (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1987)
• Dea H. Boster and Joel D. Howell, Medicine at Michigan: A History of the University of Michigan Medical School at the Bicentennial (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2017)