Rush University

Founding of Rush University Rush University Medical Center dates back to March 2, 1837, when Rush Medical College received its charter. Daniel Brainard , MD, founded Rush Medical College in March 1837, two days before Chicago was chartered as a city. It took seven years from the granting of the charter before Rush Medical College opened officially on December 4, 1843—with 22 students enrolled in a 16-week course. The college is named for Benjamin Rush , a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a Pennsylvania physician, who counted George Washington among his patients. He became a medical and humanitarian leader after the Revolutionary War. He was also a social activist, a prominent advocate for the abolition of slavery, for scientific education for the masses—including women—and for public medical clinics to treat the poor. At his death in 1813, he was the most celebrated physician in America. [ citation needed ] In the manner of most medical schools in the 19th century, Rush was a proprietary institution owned and operated by a group of physicians who had joined Brainard in establishing practices in young Chicago. Presbyterian Hospital, Rush's teaching hospital, opened in 1884. Following the 1871 Great Chicago Fire , Rush abandoned its destroyed campus and rebuilt in the West Side neighborhood it occupies today. By the end of that century, Rush was among the nation's largest and most distinguished medical schools, [ citation needed ] becoming a major supplier of physicians to rural areas in the Middle and far West. [ citation needed ] The college sought an academic affiliation with a major university, a common practice among independent medical schools of that era. In 1898, the school affiliated with the University of Chicago . During its first century of operation, more than 10,000 physicians received their training at Rush Medical College. [ citation needed ]

In 1942, its association with the University of Chicago came to an end, when Rush temporarily suspended its pre-clinical educational program in the face of World War II. In 1956, Chicago's St. Luke's Hospital accepted Presbyterian Hospital's invitation to merge to obtain the critical mass of resources of contemporary teaching medical centers. Soon after, in response to a projected future need for physicians to serve the growing population of the state and the region, the charter for Rush Medical College was reactivated and the college merged with Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital. Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center was formed, and in 1971, Rush Medical College reopened with a class of 66 first-year students and 33 third-year students. First-year entering class size reached 120 in 1976 and recently increased to 128 students. [ citation needed ]

To emphasize its affiliation with Rush University and its status as an academic medical center, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center was renamed Rush University Medical Center in 2003.

Medical College Main article: Rush Medical College