40 Years of Learning, Healing and Discovering
Photos courtesy of Savitt Medical LibraryEarly 1960s
The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, whose mission was to review and recommend sites in western states for higher education institutions, designated the University of Nevada in Reno as the most likely facility that could support a new medical school.
1965
George T. Smith, M.D. appointed to conduct a study on the feasibility of establishing a medical school in Nevada.
1969
Board of Regents approve feasibility study and it is adopted by the State Legislature.
March 1969
Governor Paul Laxalt signs Assembly Bill 130 into law to establish a two-year medical school. Smith appointed the school’s first dean.
September 1971
The School of Medical Sciences opens with nine full-time, five part-time faculty, and numerous volunteer faculty. The charter class has 32 students, including a woman. Teaching affiliations established at hospitals in Las Vegas, Reno, Henderson, Elko and Carson City.
Spring 1972
First building on a permanent campus completed, named for Fred M. Anderson, M.D.
Spring 1973
The charter class completes its basic sciences, after taking the Part I examination of the National Board of Medical Examiners.
1974
The school initiates an accredited continuing medical education program, one of only two such programs in the U.S. to encompass an entire state.
April 1977
The Nevada Legislature passes Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 18, approving the conversion of the school to a four-year, medical degree-granting institution.
June 1977
The second building on the Reno campus completed and named after H. Edward Manville, one of the school’s major supporters.
October 1977
Thomas J. Scully, M.D. appointed dean and is architect of the School of Medicine’s new four-year program.
1979
The Office of Rural Health is created.
February 1979
The school procures office and clinic space in Las Vegas.
October 1979
Ernest Mazzaferri, M.D. takes over as interim dean of the School of Medicine.
May 1980
The first class of 36 students of the four-year program graduate. The school’s first residency program, in OB/GYN, is created.
December 1980
Robert N. Daugherty, Jr., M.D., Ph.D. becomes dean of the medical school.
August 1982
Savitt Medical Library named after Sol and Ella Savitt, longtime supporters of the medical school and its library.
1983
Residency programs in general surgery and internal medicine (Reno) established.
May 1986
Seven-year accreditation for the school is granted, the longest term a medical school can be awarded.
1987
Howard Health Building, named for businessman and major benefactor of the school, Claude I. Howard, opens in Las Vegas.
1988
Genetics program created in Las Vegas. Family medicine residencies formed in Las Vegas and Reno.
1989
Joseph Hume, Ph.D., discovers new chloride channels in the heart and is published in the journal Science. The internal medicine residency program created in Las Vegas.
1990
Trudy Larson, M.D. and Steve Zell, M.D. open an early intervention clinic for patients with HIV and AIDS to serve communities in northern Nevada.
1992
Claude I. Howard and Nell J. Redfield Speech Pathology and Audiology Buildings and Student Health Center completed.
1993
School selected for the Robert Wood Johnson generalist initiative award. The $750,000 grant helps modify the curriculum to a primary care focus and provide students with an ambulatory setting experience.
1995
A statewide practice plan, University Health System, created to help integrate the school’s patient care clinics.
School awarded $8.5 million by the National Institutes of Health to study breast cancer, heart disease and osteoporosis. Thomas Kozel, Ph.D. receives MERIT award from the NIH.
1996
Northern Nevada HIV Outpatient Program, Education and Services (HOPES) Clinic created. Pediatrics residency program established.
May 1997
The Nevada State Health Laboratory transferred to the medical school by the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services State Health Division.
1998
Joseph Hume, Ph.D. receives MERIT award.
July 1998
Patient Care Center opens in Las Vegas.
1999
Students establish Student Outreach Clinic to provide medical care for indigent patients. The school’s trauma unit at University Medical Center in Las Vegas designated Level I status.
Psychiatry residency established in Reno.
November 1999
Robert H. Miller, M.D. becomes dean.
2001
Stephen McFarlane, Ph.D., takes over as dean two weeks before the school’s accreditation visit.
May 2002
The Pennington Medical Education Building opens, named for philanthropists William and Myriam Pennington.
July 2002
Psychiatry residency created in Las Vegas.
Summer 2003
Family medicine clinic opens and plastic surgery residency program created in Las Vegas.
2004
John McDonald, M.D., Ph.D. appointed dean. The surgery critical care fellowship program established in Las Vegas.
July 2005
Child psychiatry fellowship established in Reno.
July 2006
Emergency medicine and sports medicine residency programs in Las Vegas and geriatrics fellowship program in Reno established.
May 2008
Surgery department creates the first acute care surgery fellowship program in the U.S., spearheaded by John Fildes, M.D.
July 2008
Ole Thienhaus, M.D. appointed dean. Division of Health Sciences established at the University of Nevada, Reno, with McDonald as vice president. Sports medicine fellowship program established in Reno.
Summer 2009
Announcement on naming gift for the health sciences education building in Reno pending Synapse publication time. Oncology fellowship program established in Las Vegas. |
