Academic Health Center

Academic Health Center. Driven to Discover. , Beginnings , The University of Minnesota created the Medical School in 1888. In 1892, classes were offered in Medical Hall (now Wulling Hall) on Pleasant Street. By the turn of the century, dentistry and pharmacy had become colleges in their own right, and in 1909 the nation's first university-based nursing program began on campus., A Golden Era , Following World War II, the federal government expanded its investment in biomedical research. At the University of Minnesota this led to a golden era of medical advances, particularly in cardiovascular research and treatment.,

. In 1952, surgeons led by F. John Lewis performed the world's first successful open-heart operation using hypothermia. In the same decade, C. Walton Lillihei saw the need for a wearable pacemaker and implanted the first such device, invented by Earl Bakken., . In the 1960s, Lillihei successfully implanted an artificial heart valve. And physician-scientist Richard DeWall developed a heart-lung machine to support longer, more complicated surgery.

, By the 1970s, the University had brought all the health services under one administrative umbrella and created buildings for dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, and outpatient clinics. A new hospital facility opened in 1986. It was sold to Fairview Health Services in 1996 and remains a primary teaching facility for University students., A Comprehensive Health Center , Today, the University's Academic Health Center comprises classrooms and laboratories for educating doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, dental hygienists, public health professionals, and veterinarians, as well as physical, respiratory, and occupational therapists. The vast majority of Minnesota's health care providers are educated there., The Academic Health Center offers programs in virtually all of the health disciplines. Its comprehensiveness, as well as the proximity of its buildings, gives University of Minnesota students and faculty a unique opportunity for integrated study, research, and practice with colleagues in related disciplines., Photo captions: , 1. Clinical faculty and students pose at the College of Medicine and Surgery dispensary, 1889 , 2. C. Walton Lillehei treats patient , 3. Pharmacy students in medicinal plant garden (Nicholson and Folwell Halls in background), 1916 , 4. International dental students in the Owre Hall clinic, 1935 , 5. Public health researcher Ancel Keys , 6. School of Nursing graduates, 1916 , 7. Owen H. Wangensteen led the Department of Surgery to national acclaim , 8. Katharine Densford, nursing director, 1930–59 , 9. Mayo Memorial Building, built in 1954, served as the University's main hospital until 1986 , 10. Aerial view of the AHC, 2008 ,