Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California. It is the successor to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Francisco in 1858 and later named Cooper Medical College; the medical school was acquired by Stanford in 1908. Due to this descent, it ranks as the oldest medical school in the Western United States. The medical school moved to the Stanford campus near Palo Alto, California in 1959.
The School of Medicine, along with Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, is part of Stanford Medicine. It is a research-intensive institution that emphasizes medical innovation, novel methods, discoveries, and interventions in its integrated curriculum.
In 1855, Illinois physician Elias Samuel Cooper moved to San Francisco in the wake of the California Gold Rush. In cooperation with the University of the Pacific (also known as California Wesleyan College), Cooper established the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, the first medical school on the West Coast, in 1858, on Mission Street near 3rd Street in San Francisco. The school underwent many changes until Cooper's nephew, Levi Cooper Lane, established a new campus at the intersection of Webster and Sacramento Streets in 1882; at that time, the school was christened Cooper Medical College. Lane also built a hospital and a nursing school (forerunner of the Stanford School of Nursing) and made provision for the creation of Lane Medical Library.
In 1908, Cooper Medical College was deeded to Stanford University as a gift. It became Stanford's medical institution, initially called the Stanford Medical Department and later the Stanford University School of Medicine. The school expanded and built up a reputation for excellence and providing cutting edge clinical care. In the 1950s, the Stanford Board of Trustees decided to move the school to the Stanford main campus near Palo Alto. The move was completed in 1959.
In the 1980s the Medical Center launched a major expansion program. A new hospital was added in 1989 with 20 new operating rooms, state of the art intensive care and inpatient units, and other technological additions. The Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine opened in May 1989 as an interdisciplinary center focusing on the molecular and genetic basis of disease. The Lucile Packard Children's Hospital was completed in 1991, adding even more diversity to Stanford Medicine.
The Clark Center, which opened its doors in 2003, houses interdisciplinary research endeavors through the university's Bio-X program and serves to reinforce Stanford's commitment to providing the best possible patient care through innovation. The focus of the program is to combine bioengineering, chemical engineering, physics, and entrepreneurship with medical research and clinical education to pioneer the future of medicine through translating discoveries.
In the early years of the 21st century the School of Medicine underwent rapid construction to further expand teaching and clinical opportunities. The Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge opened in 2010; it serves as the gateway to the School of Medicine as well as providing a new model of medical education by combining biomedical research with clinical education and information technology. The Lorry I. Lokey Stem Cell Research Building also opened in 2010; it is the largest stem cell and regenerative medicine facility in North America. The Stem Cell Research Building is the first of the planned Stanford Institutes of Medicine. In addition to research facilities it houses offices for faculty from the Stanford Cancer Center and "hotel space" offices for visiting researchers. Furthermore, the Stanford University Medical Center is undergoing a renewal and expansion project which will rebuild Stanford Hospital & Clinics and the Emergency Department, modernize and expand Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, renovate the School of Medicine facilities to accommodate modern technology, and renovate Hoover Pavilion, the original Palo Alto Hospital, to accommodate community physicians.
Academic programs and students
The School of Medicine's programs include more than 1,250 enrolled students, matriculating in MD, MD/PhD, PhD, and master’s programs, and more than 2,300 postgraduate clinical and research trainees.
Most Stanford medical students elect to extend their training over five or more years in order to pursue more in-depth research. Approximately 19 percent of its MD students graduate with a joint MD/PhD degree while at Stanford.
The School of Medicine is currently in midst of a process to transform its medical curriculum. It has reversed the traditional teaching method of classroom time being reserved for lectures and problem-solving exercises being completed outside of school as homework; with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, school leaders are heading up a collaborative on the use of the “flipped classroom” approach to content delivery.
The School of Medicine also has a Physician Assistant (PA) program that was added in 1971, called the Primary Care Associate Program. It was one of the first accredited physician assistant programs in California. It is offered in association with Foothill College. The program has graduated more than 1,300 physician assistants since its opening. Most graduates fulfill the program's mission of serving underserved medical communities.
Rankings and admissions
In the 2018 U.S. News & World Report rankings, Stanford was ranked 2nd in the nation for research, behind Harvard Medical School. Admissions to Stanford is highly competitive. The acceptance rate is the second-lowest in the country at 2.5%. In 2016, 7,512 people applied, and 516 were interviewed.
Stanford is one of several schools in the states to use the multiple mini interview system, developed at McMaster University Medical School in Canada, to evaluate candidates. The MMI system exposes candidates to multiple interviewers in a short amount of time and has been shown to better predict medical school performance than traditional panel interviews.
Along with the School of Humanities and Science, the Stanford School of Medicine also runs the Biosciences Ph.D. Program which was ranked 1st in 2014 among graduate programs in the biological sciences by the US News and World Report. In specialties, according to U.S. News for 2014, Stanford is #1 in genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics; #1 in biochemistry, biophysics, and structural biology; #1 in neuroscience and neurobiology; #2 in cell biology, #2 in microbiology; #4 in immunology and infectious disease and #4 in molecular biology.
The School of Medicine has 1,948 full-time faculty. There have been eight Nobel Prize winners over the past six decades, and among its current faculty members are:
31 members of the National Academy of Sciences
42 members of the National Academy of Medicine
4 MacArthur Foundation “geniuses”
19 Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators
17 NIH Innovator and Young Innovator Awards
Faculty conduct clinical rotations at several hospital sites. In addition to the Stanford University Medical Center (Stanford Hospital and Clinics) and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford has formal affiliations with Kaiser Permanente, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. Stanford medical students also manage two free clinics: Arbor Free Clinic in Menlo Park and Pacific Free Clinic in San Jose.
1956 - First use in Western hemisphere of linear accelerator to treat cancer
1960 - First kidney transplant in California
1964 - Demonstration of electrical stimulation of auditory nerve in deaf patients, paving the way for cochlear implants
1968 - First adult human heart transplant in the United States
1970 - Leonard Herzenberg develops the fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) which revolutionizes the study of cancer cells and will be essential for purification of adult stem cells
1974 - Isolation of genome of a virus that causes hepatitis B and a common form of liver cancer
1975 - Discovery of link between exercise and increased “good” (HDL) cholesterol levels
1979 - Discovery of dynorphin, a brain chemical 200 times more powerful than morphine
1981 - First successful human combined heart/lung transplant in the world (fourth attempted worldwide)
1984 - Isolation of a gene coding for part of the T-cell receptor, a key to the immune system’s function
1988 - Isolation of pure hematopoietic stem cells from mice
1992 - Development of a genetically engineered vaccine to enhance patients’ immunological response against B-cell lymphoma
1993 - First clinical trial testing methods for preventing eating disorders in adolescents
1996 - Discovery that the p53 protein, known to be involved in controlling cancerous tumors, works as an “emergency brake” on cancer development
2000 - Solution of the structure of the RNA polymerase protein, a pivotal molecule that copies genes from DNA to RNA
2005 - Discovery of obestatin, a hormone that suppresses appetite
2007 - Application and expansion of optogenetics, a technique to control brain cell activity with light
2009 - Discovery of a "don't-eat-me" signal that allows blood cancer stem cells to migrate safely through the body
2009 - Discovery of the first human bladder cancer stem cell
2010 - For the first time, researchers use a healthy person's complete genome sequence to predict his risk for dozens of diseases
2013 - Karl Deisseroth's development of the CLARITY technique for rendering intact tissues transparent
2013 - A new technique induces egg growth in infertile women, and one gives birth
2014 - Study finds infusion of young blood recharges brains of old mice
2014 - First study to show no survival benefit for bilateral mastectomy for breast cancer patients
2014 - Discovery of abnormalities in the brains of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome
2015 - Scientists find genetic signature enabling early, accurate sepsis diagnosis
2015 - Discovery of iron-containing inflammatory cells seen in Alzheimer’s brains that could be used to diagnose and monitor Alzheimer’s patients earlier than what is currently possible
2015 - Researchers genetically engineer yeast to produce opioids, a faster and less expensive technique that could improve access to medicines in impoverished nations
2015 - Discovery of a bacterial community in pregnant women that is linked to preterm birth
Lori Arviso Alvord - First board-certified female Diné surgeon, author of The Scalpel and the Silver Bear and 2013 nominee for U.S. Surgeon General
John C. Baldwin - Former dean of Dartmouth Medical School and former president of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Cheri Blauwet- professional cyclist, winner of Boston Marathon
William Brody - President of the Salk Institute and former President of The Johns Hopkins University
David D. Burns - Psychiatrist and author
Amy Chow - Olympic gold medalist.
Henry F. Epstein - Cecil and Ida Green Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience, University of Texas Medical Branch
David A. Wood - President of the American Cancer Society, first director of the UCSF Cancer Research Institute
William Frist - Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellow; United States Senator, former presidential candidate
Randall B. Griepp - cardiothoracic surgeon who collaborated with Norman Shumway in the development of the first successful heart transplant procedures in the U.S.
Milt McColl - Former NFL linebacker
John C. Handy - Physician and surgeon in Tucson, Arizona (graduate of Medical College of the Pacific)
James Mongan - CEO of Partners HealthCare (MGH and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School)
Scott Parazynski - NASA Astronaut, veteran of 5 Space Shuttle missions
Joshua Prager - pain medicine specialist and neuromodulator
Mary Elizabeth Bennett Ritter - one of the first women to earn MD's in California, advocate for women's rights and public health in Berkeley, CA
Belding Scribner - Professor, University of Washington, inventor of the Scribner Shunt
Irving Weissman - Leading Stem Cell Biologist. Founder of Systemix and Stem Cells Inc.
Augustus White - Surgeon-in-Chief at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Ray Lyman Wilbur - President of American Medical Association, President of Stanford (1916–1943), personal physician of President Harding
Owen Witte - Distinguished Professor and Founding Director of the UCLA Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA
Val Murray Runge - John Sealy Distinguished Chair and Professor of Radiology University of Texas Medical Branch
Notable current and past faculty
John R. Adler - Professor of Neurosurgery. Inventor of CyberKnife.
Ben Barres - Professor of Neurobiology. Renowned for research on sex and intelligence.
George W. Beadle - Professor of Biology. Winner of the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Paul Berg - Biochemist. Winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovery of recombinant-DNA.
Eugene C. Butcher - Professor of Pathology. Winner of the 2004 Crafoord Prize.
Gilbert Chu - Professor of Biochemistry and Medicine.
Stanley Norman Cohen - Professor of Genetics and of Medicine, who accomplished the first transplantation of genes between cells. Winner of the National Medal of Science, National Medal of Technology, inducted into National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Frances K. Conley - Famed female neurosurgeon best known for advancing women in American medicine.
Karl Deisseroth - Professor of Bioengineering and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Pioneer of optogenetics. Winner of the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.
William C. Dement - Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, pioneer in sleep research.
Stanley Falkow - Robert W. and Vivian K. Cahill Professor in Cancer Research. Conducted pioneering work in learning how bacteria can cause human disease and how antibiotic resistance spreads. Winner of the National Medal of Science.
Andrew Z. Fire - Winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Thomas J. Fogarty - Clinical Professor of Surgery. Member of National Inventors Hall of Fame. Owner of more than 100 surgical patents, including the Fogarty balloon catheter.
Philip Hanawalt - the Hertzstein Professor of Biology and Dermatology, discovered transcription coupled repair of DNA.
Griffith R. Harsh - Vice Chair of the Stanford Department of Neurosurgery and the Director of the Stanford Brain Tumor Center. He is also the spouse of Meg Whitman.
Leonard Herzenberg - Winner of the Kyoto Prize for development of fluorescent-activated cell sorting.
Emile Holman - First Chair of General Surgery at Stanford. Rhodes scholar and considered to be "last" pupil of William Halsted.
Henry S. Kaplan - Pioneer in radiation therapy for cancer. Inventor of the first linear accelerator in the Western hemisphere.
Brian Kobilka - Professor of Molecular and Cellular physiology. Winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Arthur Kornberg - Winner of the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (with Severo Ochoa) for discovery of the mechanisms of the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid.
Roger Kornberg - Winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Son of Arthur Kornberg. Discoverer of nucleosome and transcriptional mediator. Member of National Academy of Sciences.
William Langston - Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Parkinson's Institute and Clinical Center in Sunnyvale, California.
Michael Levitt - Winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Joshua Lederberg - Founder of the Stanford department of genetics, co-recipient of 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Donald Laub - Founder of Interplast, Inc.
Kate Lorig - Director of the Stanford Patient Education Research Center.
Bruce Reitz - Performed first combined adult human heart-lung transplant.
Robert Sapolsky - Famous neuroscientist and Professor of Neurology, most noted for his studies on stress
Lucy Shapiro - Professor of Developmental Biology. Winner of the National Medal of Science.
Norman Shumway - Heart transplant pioneer. Performed first heart transplant in the United States.
Vaughn Starnes - Performed first living double-lobar lung transplant.
Stephen Quake - Professor and Co-Chair of Bioengineering. Founder of Fluidigm Corp, Helicos Biosciences. Inventor of non-invasive prenatal diagnostics by sequencing. Winner of Lemelson-MIT Prize.
Lubert Stryer - National Medal of Science recipient, Winzer Professor of Neurobiology, and author of Biochemistry Textbook
Thomas Südhof - Winner of 2013 Nobel Prize in Medicine
Edward L. Tatum - Co-winner of 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Irving Weissman - Leading stem cell biologist and director of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. Founder of Systemix and Stem Cells Inc.
Paul Yock - Inventor of the rapid exchange system for endovascular procedures.
Lucy S. Tompkins - Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
Robert A. Chase - Professor of Surgery, Founder of Stanford Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery
