The New York University Medical Center/Tisch Hospital
The New York University Medical Institutions has played a prominent role in
the history of American medicine. The New York University Medical School was
established in 1841 at a site on lower Broadway. The school initially enrolled
239 medical students and boasted of six professors. The American Medical Association
was founded in 1841 at New York University Medical School. The Medical School
first moved to Third Avenue and 14th Street in 1851, then opposite Bellevue
Hospital on First Avenue in 1876.
In 1947 New York University Medical Center merged with the New York Post-Graduate
Hospital to become University Hospital. The University Hospital provided facilities
for education, research and patient care. University Hospital and the School
of Medicine relocated from their site across from Bellevue Hospital, to their
current site spanning from thirtieth to thirty-fourth streets, along the East
River.
Incorporated in the construction of University Hospital was the Rusk Institute
for Rehabilitation Medicine. The Rusk Institute had 152 beds and soon became
one of the outstanding rehabilitation centers in the world.
In 1963, the 726-bed University Hospital was renamed Tisch Hospital after
one of its prominent and generous benefactors, Lawrence Tisch. Tisch Hospital
rapidly became recognized as a major tertiary hospital in New York City. The
Hospital attracts patients from all continents of the world.
In April, 1999, the Minimally Invasive Urology Unit (MIUU) was opened. The
MIUU is comprised of five operating rooms used exclusively by the Department
of Urology. It is equipped with state of the art lasers and endoscopic equipment,
a lithotriptor and a complete videourodynamic suite.
The Bellevue Hospital
The origin of Bellevue Hospital can be traced to pre-Revolutionary War days
when, in 1658, an infirmary for the poor was established in New Amsterdam.
When the colony came under English rule, the Charter of 1731 provided for the
construction of a municipal hospital at the site of the present City Hall.
This was the first of its kind in the United States. The cost was "80
pounds and 50 gallons of rum." There, a single room containing six beds
was set aside for the sick indigent. In 1787, Bellevue Medical College was
established in the old almshouse hospital. After the New York epidemic of yellow
fever in 1795, the old almshouse hospital was moved to the Belle Vue Mansion,
an "estate about three miles out of town" on the East River. The
first Bellevue Hospital was opened in 1826 for the "care of the sick and
for the clinical instruction of medical students." Taking advantage of
the abundant resources of the Bellevue Hospital, within fifteen months a new
amphitheater was approved by the medical board and formally opened on March
2, 1849. Dr. William H. Van Buren, then 30 years of age, participated in the
ceremonies by doing a perineal lithotomy. In 1850, beds at the Bellevue Hospital
were allocated to three medical and surgical divisions. Columbia College of
Physicians and Surgeons, New York University Medical College, and Bellevue
Medical College shared control of each division. A house staff was organized
for an eighteen-month residency. Residency diplomas were granted from 1852
until 1967. Bellevue Hospital Medical College was established in 1859, and
in 1898, Bellevue Hospital and Bellevue Medical College merged. That same year,
Cornell University Medical College was founded and Cornell assumed direction
of the Second Division.
W. H. Van Buren, an outstanding scholar and surgeon, was
appointed Professor Genitourinary Diseases at Bellevue Medical College in
1877. Dr. Van Buren is
recognized for establishing the first Chair of Urology in the United States.
Dr. E. L. Keyes, Sr., said that "Bellevue Hospital has been the Mother
of Urologists and Van Buren’s service, the first urologic ward in this
country."
Urologic patients were distributed among the three surgical
divisions until February 1902, when all the urologic beds were grouped together
under Dr. E.L.
Keyes, Sr., who succeeded Dr. Van Buren. The impact Bellevue has had upon the
specialty of urology is perhaps best illustrated by the abbreviated list of
some illustrious urologists who have served on the staff: W. H. Van Buren,
E.L. Keyes, Sr., Charles A. Chetwood, R.W. Taylor, Tilden Brown, E. L. Keyes,
Jr., Joseph McCarthy, Alfred T. Osgood, F. Valentine, David MacKenzie, Byard
Clark, Oswald S. Lowsley, George F. Cahill, A.R. Stevens, Benjamin Barringer,
Howard Jeck, Meredith Campbell, John W. Draper, and Robert S. Hotchkiss. To
this day, the major Urologic textbook, Campbell’s Urology, carries the
name of its first editor, a Bellevue Urologist, Meredith Campbell.
In 1968 NYU assumed responsibility for all medical and surgical divisions
at Bellevue Hospital. A new Bellevue Hospital was built in 1975. Bellevue Hospital
is now an integral part of the New York University Medical Center Residency
Programs. Bellevue Hospital is a tertiary city hospital with 1232 beds and
well known for its trauma experience.
The New York Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center
The New York Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center is an 851-bed hospital
located between twenty-third and twenty-ninth streets. The hospital was build
in 1955 and has always been associated with NYU. In August of 1993, as part
of a modernization plan, a new wing was opened that included operating room
facilities and outpatient clinics. The Veterans Administration Hospital has
state-of-the-art laser, endoscopic and urodynamic equipment. A new outpatient
Urology clinic and Urology surgery suite was dedicated in 1997 that houses
a lithotripter.
The NYU School of Medicine committed one million dollars to establish a Urology
Research facility at the VA Hospital. This facility is now in operation and
is a state-of-the-art research lab.
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