Early records of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine

• 7 boxes (34 inches)
• electronic material

This collection contains files created by senior Mount Sinai leaders who participated in the creation of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, including various early papers. Of particular note is a booklet by Mount Sinai Trustee Leonard Block called "Let us NOT sponsor a Medical School" [in 1961 Correspondence file]. Also included here are some of the foundational studies for the school, founding documents and policy statements. There are also files about how to create publicity for the new school. One effort was a film with Milton Eisenhower, President of Johns Hopkins University and brother of Dwight D. Eisenhower, as the narrator. The film describes why Mount Sinai would be a good place for a medical school. Copies of the film, "The Mount Sinai Story," are included in the Archives Visual Material Collection (VM 059). Also, an oversize site and programming report is stored on Q 7.

This material is available for use. Contact the Archives (MSArchives@mssm.edu) for access to these materials.

• English

Mount Sinai School of Medicine was chartered in 1963 and opened for classes in 1968. When it opened, it was the first American medical school since the Flexner Report of 1910 that was not sponsored by a university. The opening was the culmination of many years of work by The Mount Sinai Hospital Board of Trustees, medical staff, and senior administration. Studies were performed by groups of physicians and medical educators who were brought in to assess Mount Sinai’s suitability as a site to host a medical school. Mount Sinai administration and medical staff also visited the offices of the American Medical Association, the American Association of Medical Colleges, and their joint Liaison Committee on Medical Education to get their insight into what needed to be done to make it acceptable for a hospital to establish a medical school.

After the School was chartered, the process of writing a grant to the federal government to support the building of a medical school facility (the Annenberg Building) was begun. The grant was initially submitted in 1964, and then updated as time passed with no money forthcoming. The grant application was supported by a series of studies made by internal Mount Sinai staff, as well as by external consultants. The subjects of these reports were how the physical campus should change to accommodate the creation of a school, as well as what the management structure of the Hospital and School should be and how the two organizations should relate to one another.

It became clear to the Mount Sinai group that there was some reluctance to fund a new school that was based at a hospital, so they set about finding a university affiliation. This process was long and contentious; discussions were held with many universities. The early leading candidates were City College and the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. In August 1967, the young School announced its affiliation with The City University of New York (CUNY). The next month, Mount Sinai received $26 million in federal grant funds. This was the largest such grant made to a medical school up to that time. When the grant money was received, Mount Sinai had already begun the fundraising campaign that would provide support for building the School.
The final goal of $152 million was reached in 1976, eight years after the School opened and three years after the Annenberg Building was built.

Another major activity of the early years of the School was identifying someone to become the Dean and lead the building of the School program. Initially Irving Schwartz, MD was brought on in January 1965 and identified as the Dean to outside site visitors. Later that year, George James, MD, the Commissioner of Health in New York City, was announced as the Dean of the Medical School, with Dr. Schwartz assuming the positions of Dean of the Graduate School of Biological Sciences and Chairman of Physiology, roles he ably filled for many years. Hans Popper, MD, Director of the Department of Pathology and a leader among the group of medical staff who wanted to found a school, was appointed Dean for Academic Affairs and oversaw curriculum and faculty relations. Dr. Popper wrote many of the early papers outlining the goals and plans for the new school, including “The Mount Sinai Concept” in 1965.

More information about the founding of Mount Sinai School of Medicine may be found in the article by Kenneth M. Ludmerer, “The Origins of Mount Sinai School of Medicine,” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, v. 45, 1990: 469-489.

This collection contains files created by senior Mount Sinai leaders who participated in the creation of Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Of particular note is a booklet by Mount Sinai Trustee Leonard Block called ‘Let us NOT sponsor a Medical School’ [in 1961 Corresp. file]. Also included here are some of the early studies on the school, founding documents and policy statements. There are also files about how to create publicity for the new school. One effort was a film with Milton Eisenhower, President of Johns Hopkins University and brother of Dwight D. Eisenhower, as the narrator. The film describes why Mount Sinai would be a good place for a medical school. Copies of the film, “The Mount Sinai Story,” are included in the Archives Visual Material Collection (VM 59.)

Processed by Barbara Niss in April 2014. Updated by Nicholas Webb in February 2018.