SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University history

By 1869, major changes were introduced into the teaching curriculum.

Another change, made in 1872, was the establishment of a reading and recitation term that began early in October and extended to the beginning of the regular term in March.

By 1879, the faculty of the Long Island College Hospital concluded that the system of teaching medicine in the United States was radically wrong.

In 1931 the school was re-chartered as the Long Island College of Medicine with affiliated hospitals throughout Brooklyn.

In 1945, the college purchased a six and one-half acre tract of land that eventually became the site of Downstate Health Sciences University.

The site where the Downstate Medical Center stands was purchased in 1946.

In spite of nearly 90 years of successful independent existence with no university connection and maintenance of high educational standards, financial difficulties ultimately led to the merger of the Long Island College of Medicine. It was brought within the orbit of the newly created State University of New York (SUNY) in 1950, leading to the establishment of the present-day State University of New York Downstate Medical Center.

The complex was expanded in 1966 with the opening of University Hospital of Brooklyn.

The Downstate era began in 1950 with a merger between the Long Island College of Medicine and the newly constituted State University of New York. It was renamed in 1985 as the State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn.

Doctor Robert Furchgott, 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, jointly with Louis J. Ignarro and Ferid Murad

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