History
The School of Medicine was established following passage of a bill in the Connecticut General Assembly in 1810 granting a charter for “The Medical Institution of Yale College,” to be conducted under the joint supervision of the college and the Connecticut State Medical Society. The institution was formally opened in 1813, and the first degrees were conferred the following year. In 1884, with the approval of the Medical Society, the original charter was amended to place the school in the control of the College as the Medical School of Yale College. The name Yale College was changed to Yale University in 1887, and the name of the Medical School was automatically changed. The present name was adopted in 1918.
Shortly after the establishment of the school, members of its faculty and physicians in the state joined with other citizens in raising funds for a hospital in New Haven to provide, among other services, clinical facilities for the instruction of medical students. The outcome of these efforts was the incorporation of the General Hospital Society of Connecticut in 1826, and the opening of the New Haven Hospital in 1832. The New Haven Dispensary was founded in 1872 and later became a division of the New Haven Hospital. Instruction in clinical medicine has been conducted in the hospital continuously since its establishment.
A merger was completed in 1945 between the New Haven Hospital and Grace Hospital to form the Grace-New Haven Community Hospital. The affiliation agreement between the hospital and university was revised in 1965 and the name of the institution changed to Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH). In 1999, a separate affiliation agreement was adopted by the university and the Yale New Haven Health System.
Over the last several years, YSM and YNHHS have been engaged in strategic planning with a shared aspiration to achieve extraordinary gains in individual, community, and global health as one of the nation’s premier academic health systems.
Members of the professional staffs of the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, and the Connecticut Mental Health Center, hold appointments in Yale University.
Mission
Yale School of Medicine educates and nurtures creative leaders in medicine and science, promoting curiosity and critical inquiry in an inclusive environment enriched by diversity. We advance discovery and innovation fostered by partnerships across the university, our local community, and the world. We care for patients with compassion and commit to improving the health of all people.
Facilities
Located southwest of the New Haven Green and Yale’s Old Campus, the School of Medicine sits in proximity to the School of Public Health, Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH), Smilow Cancer Hospital, Connecticut Mental Health Center, and the John B. Pierce Laboratory building. In 2013 the School of Nursing moved to Yale West Campus in Orange, Connecticut.
The School of Medicine’s Sterling Hall of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, is the central building. This handsome limestone structure with domed roof includes administrative offices, the 450-seat Mary S. Harkness Auditorium, the Center for Cellular and Molecular Imaging, the Child Study Center, the departments of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Pharmacology, Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Genetics, Cell Biology, Neuroscience, Yale Cancer Center, and History of Medicine.
The Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, located in Sterling Hall of Medicine, provides access to more than 50,000 electronic books, 23,000 electronic journals, and 110 databases, in addition to more than 400,000 print volumes. It offers comfortable seating, small-group study spaces, computers, and services to help with research. A renovation in 2019 introduced a large team-based learning classroom, eight rooms for small-group learning and independent study, an expanded studio for video production of learning materials, and the Information Commons with workstations, comfortable seating, and an information help desk. These spaces are designed for flexible use and incorporate technologies to support the YSM curriculum and accommodate individual study preferences. The Morse Reading Room and Historical Library Reading Room are designated as quiet study spaces.
Connected to the south end of Sterling Hall is the Jane Ellen Hope Building, a teaching facility of conference rooms and lecture halls. At Sterling’s north end is the Nathan Smith Building, which spans Cedar Street, joining the School of Medicine and YNHH patient-care facilities, including the Hunter Building, which houses research laboratories for Therapeutic Radiology and Dermatology. The Nathan Smith Building contains offices and laboratories of Yale Cancer Center and the department of Genetics. Entrances to the Hope and Nathan Smith buildings are at 315 Cedar Street and 333 Cedar Street, respectively.
Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) is a nationally recognized, 1,554-bed, not-for-profit hospital serving as the primary teaching hospital for the Yale School of Medicine. Founded as the fourth voluntary hospital in the United States in 1826, YNHH today has two New Haven-based campuses and also includes Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital, and Smilow Cancer Hospital. YNHH has received Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the nation’s highest honor for nursing excellence. YNHH has a combined medical staff of about 4,500 university, hospital, and community physicians and advanced care providers practicing in more than one hundred specialties. YNHH (http://www.ynhh.org) is the flagship hospital of Yale New Haven Health, an integrated delivery system that includes Bridgeport, Greenwich, Lawrence + Memorial, and Westerly hospitals and their affiliated organizations, as well as Northeast Medical Group.
Laboratories and offices for the school’s clinical departments are located in contiguous buildings across Cedar Street from Sterling Hall. The Anthony N. Brady Memorial Laboratory and Lauder Hall provide offices and laboratories for the departments of Surgery, Neurosurgery, Pathology, Urology, Comparative Medicine, and Anesthesiology. The Boardman Building houses offices for the departments of Surgery and Internal Medicine. Farnam Memorial Building (FMB) and the Laboratory of Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology (LSOG) provide facilities for the departments of Surgery; Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation; Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences; Neurosurgery; Neuroscience; Internal Medicine; Pediatrics; and Comparative Medicine.
The YNHH Clinic Building connects Farnam with the Laboratory for Medicine and Pediatrics (LMP). Adjacent to the Clinic Building are Tompkins Memorial Pavilion (TMP) and Fitkin Memorial Pavilion (FMP), facilities shared by the hospital and the school. They contain the departments of Anesthesiology, Laboratory Medicine, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, Pathology, Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, and Urology; the Cardiology section; the Endocrinology section; offices for the Cancer Center; and laboratories and offices for the Department of Pediatrics. On the other side of the Clinic Building are Fitkin Amphitheater, the LMP, and the Lippard Laboratory for Clinical Investigation (LLCI), which houses offices for Neurology, Neurosurgery, and the Pulmonary section, and research labs for the departments of Dermatology, Pediatrics, and Therapeutic Radiology.
Laboratories of the departments of Ophthalmology and Visual Science and Neurology, the Cardiology section, the Cancer Center, the Keck Foundation Biotechnology Resource Laboratories, and the Human and Translational Immunology Program; offices for the Geriatric section, the Department of Pathology, the Child Study Center, Yale Center for Medical Informatics, and the School of Public Health; and laboratories and offices of the Department of Psychiatry are located at 300 George Street. Many of the Psychiatry department’s teaching, research, and patient-care activities are conducted at the Connecticut Mental Health Center and the Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital.
The Yale Physicians Building (YPB), a four-story structure on the southwest corner of Howard and Davenport avenues, contains outpatient specialty and consultative services, X-ray, laboratories, and a pharmacy. Ophthalmology clinical services and offices moved in 2007 to 40 Temple Street.
The Magnetic Resonance (MR) Center, on the corner of Davenport and Howard avenues, operated by the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, maintains three MR imaging systems for clinical examination. A new Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Center, also operated by the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, maintains a cyclotron radioisotope system for imaging research.
The Boyer Center for Molecular Medicine, at the intersection of Congress Avenue and College Street, houses multidisciplinary programs in Molecular Genetics, Cell Biology, Microbial Pathogenesis, and the interdepartmental Program in Cellular Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration, and Repair.
College Place, a series of buildings at 37–55 College Street, houses academic and administrative offices for the departments of Surgery, Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, as well as classrooms and a number of administrative offices for the School of Public Health and the Cancer Center.
The medical school’s newest research building, at 10 Amistad Street, is home to three interdisciplinary groups: the Interdepartmental Program in Vascular Biology and Therapeutics, the Human and Translational Immunology Program, and the Yale Stem Cell Center.
350 George Street, a three-story structure at the corner of George and York streets, houses clinical services for the Child Study Center, offices for Yale School of Public Health, and a laboratory facility for the Department of Neuroscience.
The Anlyan Center for Medical Research and Education is the medical school’s largest state-of-the-art research and educational facility. Completed in November 2002, this outstanding facility is located on the corner of Cedar Street and Congress Avenue and encompasses a full city block. The building includes six floors of laboratories for disease-based research, core facilities for genomics and magnetic resonance imaging, and state-of-the-art teaching space for anatomy and histology. This facility provides laboratories and offices for the departments of Internal Medicine, Genetics, Immunobiology, Laboratory Medicine, Neurosurgery, and Radiology and Biomedical Imaging.
Edward S. Harkness Memorial Hall, 367 Cedar Street, contains a student dormitory, Harkness-D, with the Nicholas P. R. Spinelli Student Lounge, a student gym, dining facilities, and the Phyllis Bodel Childcare Center. The School of Medicine offices of admissions, student affairs, financial aid, global health education, and student research are located on the second floor. The offices of the deputy deans for education, curriculum, the M.D.-Ph.D. Program, and collaborative excellence and student engagement are located on the third floor. The Clinical Skills Suite is located on the lower level. Harkness-A houses the Center for Medical Education, which supports the faculty and learners in program evaluation, curriculum design, pedagogy and teaching, and learner assessment.
The Yale Center for Healthcare Simulation is located at 728 and 730 Howard Avenue and provides 13,000 square feet for state-of-the-art simulation and debriefing space.
YSM’s most recent renovation, 100 College Street, became operational in November 2023. This facility is one of the pioneering cross-disciplinary buildings, housing both Yale School of Medicine and Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Sharing this space facilitates enhanced collaboration between the Department of Neuroscience and the Department of Psychology, fostering innovative research and academic synergy.
A number of other spaces in the vicinity of the school are leased rather than owned by Yale University.
The VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, a major teaching affiliate of the School of Medicine, is the site of the Paralyzed Veterans of America/EPVA Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research of Yale University.