T
he Weill Cornell Medical College is a medical school part of Cornell University. It is located on 1300 York Avenue and overlooks the East River. The school was founded in 1898 and was one of first American medical colleges to offer a four-year program in natural science in addition to an existing two-year medical program. The school was founded through an endowment by Colonel Oliver H. Payne, the son of a wealthy Standard Oil businessman. Payne became interested in medicine through his college friends Dr. Lewis A. Stimson and Dr. Henry P. Loomis. At the time, they worked for the University Medical College which was a part of New York University. Colonel Payne was so interested and supportive of his friend Dr. Loomis’ research, that he created a laboratory for him in his name.
In 1896, the University Medical College, the Loomis Laboratory and Bellevue Hospital Medical College came together to form the three components of NYU’s elite medical school. Each component still very much intent on having a say in university affairs agreed to creating a medical committee in which each of the three would elect members to represent their respective faculty members. This committee was supposed to be in charge of operations and hiring. However, as the story goes, the Chancellor of NYU, Henry M. MacCracken did not remember agreeing to create such a committee and instead gave power of the three components to an Executive Committee of his own selection. This committee only had one member from the medical staff on it.
This Executive Committee had total control over hiring faculty and had some control over salaries. This did not sit well with the members of the three component medical facilities. After attempts to work out the power imbalance, the medical faculty of the three components of had enough. They felt marginalized by the power of the executive committee. In 1897, the only member of the medical staff to sit on the committee, known as Henry Dimock, was voted out. After this, Colonel Payne and his associates quit their positions in NYU.
Shortly after, Henry Dimock, Colonel Payne and others filed suit against NYU seeking ownership over their 3 facilities. After years of battles in court, the New York Court of Appeals found in favor of Henry Dimock. The court found that Chancellor MacCracken made an oral promise which he then broke. Thus, the facilities would be turned over to Dimock and his associates and any ties to New York University would be dissolved. After looking for many schools to potentially partner with, they choose Cornell University. A few years later, Cornell University Medical College was established, and 6 lead professors were appointed including, Lewis Stimson and H.P. Loomis. Additionally, Cornell hired a majority of the previous medical staff back and enrolled 278 students, with 26 being female. With much success in New York City, Cornell created a two-year program for medicine on its main campus in Ithaca. One of the reasons why Cornell chose to situate their campus in NYC was because executives at Cornell felt there would not be enough enrollment at Ithaca. Once NYC showed promise, it was only a matter of time they would expand. However, after a few years of solid enrollment, there was a downturn in interest in the Ithaca program for medicine. Shortly after, the Ithaca campus was closed and only NYC remained.
This school is a representation of one of the most influential lawsuits in the history of medicine in New York. It resulted in the split that formed the two most influential medical giants in New York City. Additionally, Cornell increased funds in hospital and medical care, it improved studies in both of their campuses and trained many smart and capable female doctors. Soon Cornell medicine had a better program than NYU, and made a name for itself even though NYU had a longer history and better reputation in this field. Cornell versus NYU is one of the greatest rivalries in the history of NYC medicine and this competitive nature is what has pushed scientific research ahead. These two medical institutions are so ubiquitous, that they have bought out many smaller medical practices. Weill Cornell has partnerships with New York Presbyterian, Memorial Sloan Kettering and the Hospital for Special Surgery. The two universities are a large part of why medicine in New York has advanced so quickly and why NYC is the best place for medical history.
Works Cited
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- Bishop, Morris. A History of Cornell. Cornell Univ. Press, 1992
- “Weill Cornell Medical College.” Weill Cornell Medical College | Weill Cornell Medicine Samuel J. Wood Library, library.weill.cornell.edu/archives/weill-cornell-medical-college.