The University of Virginia School of Medicine has a long tradition of excellence in a highly collaborative atmosphere not only within the School, but also with the Health System, across Grounds with other schools, as well as throughout the Commonwealth with our sister universities and beyond.
We find innovative ways to improve health by resting on the firmest of foundations: the pyramid of education, research, patient care, and service to the community. The structure is so strong because each part of the pyramid contributes to the other: we teach students in the health professions at all levels—including our colleagues—and at the same time learn from all of them, making patient care better; we advance knowledge through research at the fundamental level and translate that research for the benefit of our patients; we treat each of our patients with compassion and respect; and we not only make the community healthier, we also serve as volunteers and advisers to the Commonwealth and the nation.
We will create models in a number of areas such as translational research, superior patient service access and care, distributed networks serving patients at a distance, use of electronic data for the most effective and efficient care, optimal education based upon what the learner needs to know and how best to teach, as well as models for policy.
We at the University of Virginia School of Medicine will serve as a national model for excellence through innovation and collaboration. In the words of Thomas Jefferson about the University he founded: “A blessing to my state, and not unuseful to some others.”
Models for all of US.
Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia in 1819. He planned the curriculum, recruited the first faculty, and designed the academical village. Jefferson's intent was for the publicly-supported school to develop a national character and stature. The University was an innovation because it was dedicated to educating leaders in practical affairs and public service rather than exclusively for professions in the classroom and pulpit. It was the first nonsectarian university in the United States and the first to use the elective course system.
The University opened for classes in 1825 with eight faculty and sixty-eight students. Jefferson took great pains to recruit the most highly qualified faculty, five of whom were found in England and three in the United States. Instruction was offered in ancient languages, modern languages, mathematics, moral philosophy, natural philosophy, chemistry, law, and medicine. The students came from the American South and West and were predominantly not Virginians.
Jefferson opposed the granting of degrees on the grounds that they were "artificial embellishments." In 1824, however, the Board of Visitors authorized granting the master of arts degree. The M.D. degree was awarded to the first graduates of the School of Medicine in 1828, and the LL.B. was first awarded for law school graduates in 1842. The bachelor's degree was awarded beginning in 1849, but became the standard undergraduate degree and a prerequisite for the master's degree in 1899, bringing the University into conformity with other institutions of higher learning. The Ph.D. has been awarded since 1883.
For further details on the history of the University of Virginia, visit: Short History of U.Va.
History: The School of Medicine
The School of Medicine, the tenth medical school to be established in the United States, was authorized by the University of Virginia Board of Visitors at its first meeting in 1819. The school was established as one of the University's original eight in 1824, and opened in March 1825. The first degree offered at the University was that of the Doctor of Medicine in 1828. Doctor of Medicine degrees have been awarded annually since that time, except for the Civil War year 1862. The original faculty consisted of a single professor, Dr. Robley Dunglison, whom Jefferson recruited from London in 1824. Dunglison was the first full-time professor of medicine in the United States and a leader in medical education. Unlike most other medical schools of the time, the School of Medicine was an integral part of the University and its professors held full-time appointments. The first dean of the school was appointed in 1904 as "Dean of the Department of Medicine." It was not until 1952 that the title of the dean became "Dean of the School of Medicine."
Today the school flourishes with a dedicated faculty, an outstanding student body, a flexible and innovative curriculum, patient care of the highest quality, and biomedical research programs nationally recognized for their stature and productivity. To supplement their classroom work, medical students gain clinical experience at the University Medical Center and affiliated hospitals and private offices throughout Virginia. After graduation, interns and residents continue generalist and specialty training as housestaff in the best hospitals throughout the United States.
Students in Ph.D. programs earn their degrees through the University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Those in the M.D./Ph.D. Program earn both a medical degree and a doctorate in one of the biomedical science programs of the School of Medicine. Postdoctoral scholars study and conduct research in the laboratories of School of Medicine faculty members.