University of Oregon Medical School

Brief Chronology

1867
Members of the medical department at Willamette University in Salem begin the first formal medical education program in Oregon.

1877
Willamette University's medical education program relocates to Portland.

1887
University of Oregon establishes a medical school in northwest Portland. The school is the only medical school in the Pacific Northwest.

1913
Willamette University and the University of Oregon merge their medical education programs to form the University of Oregon Medical School in Portland.

1917
The present 116-acre Marquam Hill campus gets its start with a 20-acre tract donated by the Oregon-Washington Railroad and Navigation Company, and an 88-acre tract donated by the C.S. Jackson family, former publisher of the daily Oregon Journal.

The state-wide Crippled Children's Division Program (now called the Child Development and Rehabilitation Center) is established in the School of Medicine to provide diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitation services for handicapped children.

1919
The University of Oregon Medical School moves from downtown Portland to its present location on Marquam Hill in southwest Portland. The first building is named after Dean Mackenzie.

1920
The University of Oregon Medical School offers Master's degrees in Anatomy, Bacteriology and Hygiene, Experimental Biology, Pathology, Pharmacology, and Physiology, at first through the University of Oregon.

1922
The first M.A. (not M.S.) degree is awarded.

1923
Multnomah County Hospital opens on the Marquam Hill campus and contracts with the medical school to provide services to indigent patients.

1926
Doernbecher Memorial Hospital for Children is built on the Marquam Hill campus and becomes the first full-service children's hospital in the Pacific Northwest.

1928
The University of Oregon Medical School takes over operation of Doernbecher.

1931
The outpatient clinic building is constructed on Marquam Hill and outpatient services begin, providing practical experience for medical and nursing students and residents.

The School of Medicine Alumni Association was established in the home of Ivan M. Woolley, MD '19. Attendance consisted of the officers: President Woolley '19; Vice-Presidents Claude A. Lewis, MD '16 and John C. Brougher, MD '28; and, Secretary W.H. Belknap, MD '22.