Georgetown University School of Medicine

Georgetown University School of Medicine

Seal of Georgetown University
Type	Private
Established	1851
Parent institution	Georgetown University
Affiliation	Roman Catholic (Jesuit)
Academic staff	1,638
Students	756
Location	Washington, D.C., USA
Campus	Urban
Website	som.georgetown.edu

Georgetown University School of Medicine, a medical school opened in 1851, is one of Georgetown University's five graduate schools. It is located on Reservoir Road in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, adjacent to the University's main campus. Its mission is to provide a comprehensive approach to medical education, "guided by the Jesuit tradition of cura personalis, care of the whole person." The School of Medicine works in association with the 609-bed Georgetown University Hospital, Washington Hospital Center, and nine other affiliated federal and community hospitals in the Washington metropolitan area. Georgetown is the oldest Catholic medical school in the United States.

The School is part of the Georgetown University Medical Center, which comprises roughly 80% of the research initiatives occurring at Georgetown University as a whole. It is the closest academic medical center in proximity to the National Institutes of Health. Georgetown and the NIH offer a combined GU-NIH PhD program in biomedical research to foster direct collaboration between the neighboring institutions.

Technology leading to the introduction of the HPV vaccine, was developed at Georgetown Medical Center by Dr. Richard Schlegel.

The founding of Georgetown's School of Medicine was the result of the progressive spirit of the University directors and professional rivalries of District of Columbia physicians. Some of the local physicians from Columbian, now George Washington University had monopolized the clinical facilities of the Washington Infirmary. Four of the excluded practitioners decided to improve their position by setting up a medical school and dispensary of their own. They asked Father James Ryder, the president of Georgetown College, to regard the new enterprise as the medical department of the Jesuit institution. The request was granted, and in May, 1851, the fledgling School opened its first classes.

In 1898 the Georgetown University Hospital was established. It is currently a 609-licensed bed hospital. In 1930, classes moved to the main campus. In July 2000, Georgetown University and MedStar Health, a not-for-profit organization of seven Baltimore and Washington hospitals, entered into a clinical partnership to provide management of clinical care and clinical education at Georgetown University Hospital. In 2004, the School of Medicine opened the Integrated Learning Center (ILC), which supports the School of Medicine's emphasis on a patient-centered, competence-based curriculum and provides the latest methods of clinical teaching and evaluation.