CWRU School of Medicine | About the School

The Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has had many notable milestones and achievements throughout its past.

FACTS and FIGURES

More than 5,700 applications were received by the School of Medicine for the 2008-2009 year.
For the 2007-2008 year, the School of Medicine had 1,475 full-time and part-time students with 698 in M.D. degree programs and 777 in M.S./Ph.D. programs.
Of approximately 140 graduates each year, 96 percent pass Step 1 and 97 percent pass Step 2 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination.

The School of Medicine has more than 3,800 faculty members.
There are 620 full-time faculty members working on National Institute of Health research grants and 595 NIH-funded studies.
The total NIH annual research funds granted to the School of Medicine in 2008 was $243,512,609.

The School of Medicine offers 25 graduate degree options, including M.D., dual M.D./Ph.D. degrees and combined M.S./Ph.D. programs.
The School of Medicine has 54 academic departments and 28 research centers and institutes.

The School of Medicine is ranked as one of the nation's top 25 medical schools by U.S. News & World Report's 2008 Guide to Graduate Education. Additionally, the Departments of Family Medicine and Pediatrics are ranked 13th in the country.
The largest medical research institution in Ohio, the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University was ranked 15th highest in research funding by the National Institutes of Health in 2007.
During 2007, the economic impact of the School of Medicine and its affiliates on the State of Ohio equaled $5.82 billion and accounted for more than 65,000 Ohio jobs.

In 1843, five faculty members and sixty-seven students began the first medical lectures at the Medical Department of Western Reserve College (also known as the Cleveland Medical College).
In 1852, the medical school became the second allopathic medical school to graduate a woman, Nancy Talbot Clarke.
Six of the first seven women in the United States to receive medical degrees from recognized allopathic medical schools graduated from Western Reserve University (as it was called then) between 1850 and 1856.
The School of Medicine was one of the first in the country to employ instructors devoted to full-time teaching and research.
In 1896, the first affiliation agreement was approved between Western Reserve University and University Hospitals of Cleveland (Lakeside Hospital).
The Western Reserve University School of Medicine revolutionized medical education in 1952 with the most progressive curriculum in the country which integrated the basic and clinical sciences.
In 2002, the School of Medicine became only the third medical school in history to receive the best review possible from the Liaison Committee on National Education, the national body responsible for accrediting the medical schools.
In 2006, the School of Medicine's University Program instituted a new integrated curriculum of medicine and public health awareness, which emphasizes the both the biology of disease and social and behavioral context of illness.

1905 Development of the modern technique for human blood transfusion using a cannula to connect
blood vessels by surgeon George Crile
1912 Pioneering the process of chlorinating drinking water by Professor Roger Perkins
1915 First simulated milk formula for infants, by alumnus and pediatrics professor Henry Gerstenberger
1927 Discovery of the cause of ptomaine food poisoning and development of an antiserum by
immunologist Enrique Ecker and colleagues
1935 First surgical treatment of coronary artery disease by Professor Claude Beck
1950s Development of the first heart-lung machine for use in open heart surgeries by Professor
Frederick Cross
1961 First successful genetic alteration of human cells in a test tube by Professor Austin Weisburger
1969 William Insull, M.D., describes the role of cholesterol in blood vessel disease
1975 Discovery that human rennin, an enzyme produced by the kidney, is involved in hypertension
1990 Discovery of the gene for osteoarthritis by a national team led by rheumatologist Roland Moskowitz
1991 First triple organ transplant in Ohio-a kidney, liver and pancreas-by James A. Schulak, M.D., and colleagues
1997 Creation of the world's first artificial human chromosome by a team led by Professor Huntington Willard

First large-scale medical research project on humans in a study linking iodine with goiter prevention
Discovery of early treatment of strep throat infections to prevent rheumatic fever
Discovery of the Hageman factor in blood clotting, a major discovery in blood coagulation research
First description of how staphylococcus infections were transmitted, leading to required hand-washing between patients in infant nurseries
First description of what was later named Reye's syndrome
Research leading to FDA approval of clozapine, the most advanced treatment for schizophrenia at the time