History

At the beginning of this century, Charles R. Van Hise vowed that the impact of the University of Wisconsin would be felt at the very boundaries of the state. This "Wisconsin Idea" has been expressed in many ways but nowhere more vividly than through programs of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

With a mission to meet the health needs of Wisconsin and beyond, the UW School of Medicine and Public Health established a statewide campus extending to every corner of Wisconsin, bringing better health care to all our communities.

The UW School of Medicine and Public Health began in 1848 when Governor Nelson Dewey included a medical school in his newly created University of Wisconsin. Sixty-nine years later, eight students interested in becoming doctors matriculated in the new College of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin.

The two-year curriculum consisted entirely of basic science classes. A handful of faculty members — either "borrowed" from the College of Letters and Science or recently hired for the new college — taught the students anatomy, physiology, physiological chemistry, pathology and pharmacology.

From those humble beginnings and in an eventful span of a little more than 100 years, the UW School of Medicine and Public Health has evolved. Take a walk through the UW School of Medicine and Public Health history with this video retrospective, which discusses the school's mission and vision from its 1907 inception to its current charge under the leadership of Dean Robert Golden.

http://vidego.multicastmedia.com/player.php?v=xem6654p

Today, the UW School of Medicine and Public Health features a deep and broad four-year curriculum emphasizing the importance of problem-solving and lifelong learning that provides students clinical experiences from the first days at medical school, as well as an array of opportunities to delve into research. Most classes are held in the new state-of-the-art Health Sciences Learning Center and clinical instruction takes place in the nationally recognized UW Hospital and Clinics and many other facilities.