University Hospitals history

1868: Wilson Street Hospital opened in a small house on Cleveland’s lakefront to provide Cleveland city residents access to medical care.

It is the first university-owned medical facility in the United States; in 1873 the University of Pennsylvania opened the first purpose-built hospital at a university.

The association's hospital quickly outgrew its original facilities and in 1876 moved into the Marine Hospital at East 9th Street and Lakeside Avenue.

An operating room is built within the hospital, followed in 1881 by a ward for eye and ear patients.

1887: Nine teenage girls from prominent Cleveland families formed the Rainbow Circle of King’s Daughters, a group devoted to helping the city’s sick and poor children.

1888: Cleveland City Hospital formally changed its name to Lakeside Hospital.

1891: Rainbow Cottage opened, caring for 32 patients its first summer.

1894: The White Hospital (today UH Portage Medical Center) opened in Ravenna.

Eventually it became known as Lakeside Hospital and, in 1895, was affiliated with Western Reserve University's Medical Department.

1898: Lakeside Training School for Nurses opened.

1899: UH administrator James Knowles established the forerunner of the American Hospital Association.

1906: George Crile, MD, performed the first radical neck dissection for laryngeal and other cancers of the neck.

1907: Charles Franklin Hoover, MD, is the first to describe two physical signs that help physicians diagnose certain conditions.

1908: The Community Hospital of Bedford (today UH Bedford Medical Center) opened.

1910: Lakeside Hospital was the world’s first hospital to perfect the manufacture of nitrous oxide gas.

1912: Samaritan Hospital (today UH Samaritan Medical Center) opened in Ashland.

1914: After several moves, Rainbow Cottage changed its name to Rainbow Hospital for Crippled and Convalescent Children.

1917: The Lakeside Unit was deployed as the first American military unit on European soil during World War I.

1919: Brown Memorial Hospital (today UH Conneaut Medical Center) opened.

1923: Henry Gerstenberger, MD, received a patent for infant formula known as SMA (Synthetic Milk Adapted), developed at Babies Dispensary and Children’s Hospital in collaboration with Harold Ruh, MD, and biochemist William Frohring.

1924: Babies’ Dispensary and Hospital moved to University Circle and was renamed Babies and Children’s Hospital.

In 1925, Lakeside Hospital formally merged with Maternity Hospital and Babies & Children's Hospital - two other Cleveland medical institutions that formed around the turn of the century with the aid of charitable contributions.

1927: A five-day fundraising campaign raised more than $8 million for a new Lakeside Hospital to be built on the University Circle campus, and a new Rainbow Hospital in South Euclid.

1929: Harry Coulby designated in his will that the bulk of his $3.2 million estate be left to The Cleveland Foundation, with half the money designated for the benefit of Lakeside Hospital.

1931:The new Lakeside Hospital and adjoining Leonard C. Hanna House opened on the University Circle campus.

1933: Claude Beck, MD, performed the first successful removal of a heart tumor.

1934: Harry Goldblatt, MD, described the role of the kidneys in hypertension (high blood pressure), laying the foundation for the discovery of renin and eventually the development of enzyme-inhibitor medications to treat chronic hypertension.

1935: Claude Beck, MD, performed the first operation for coronary artery disease.

1939: Charles I. Thomas, MD, performed the first corneal transplant in Northeast Ohio, paving the way to restored vision for millions of people.

With the closure of the Homeopathic Hospital and Medical School, its former building is converted to the “South Department” hospital, and used until 1940.

1941: The Lakeside Unit was reactivated and deployed to the South Pacific to staff the first American military hospital in World War II.

1944: Walter Heymann, MD, began research on kidney disease in children.

1946: Louis Pillemer, PhD, developed preparations of tetanus antigen, leading to the first successful triple vaccine (DPT) targeting diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus, which virtually eliminated these once-fatal diseases in the United States

1947: Claude Beck, MD, performed the first successful defibrillation of a human heart.

1950: William Holden, MD, performed the first successful femoro-popliteal bypass (from the thigh to the lower leg), using a section of the patient’s own vein.

1951: James Reagan, MD, pioneered cytopathology for cancer detection and introduced diagnostic terminology for Pap smear results reporting, including dysplasia, carcinoma in situ and squamous carcinoma.

1952: Use of chloramphenicol in blood disease was developed by Austin Weisberger, MD.

1953: Frank Nulsen, MD, pioneered pressure-regulated one-way valves for the treatment of hydrocephalus (water on the brain). He, along with Charles Herndon, MD, and Lester Persky, MD, also established one of the first hydrocephalus and myelodysplasia clinics for children in the country.

1954: Louis Pillemer, PhD, in collaboration with Irwin Lepow, PhD, and Enrique Ecker, PhD, discovered an alternative pathway for the immune response that does not involve antibodies.

The U-M School of Nursing (link is external) is fully established as a health science academic unit of the University, though it operates under the direction of a committee of hospital and Medical School leaders until the first dean is named in 1955.

1956: The Howard M. Hanna Pavilion opened on the University Circle campus for the care of psychiatric patients.

1957: Robert Izant, MD, performed the first successful surgery on infants to connect the stomach and intestinal tract.

In 1958, he established the Cleveland Eye Bank (now Eversight Ohio).

1959: Geauga Community Hospital (today UH Geauga Medical Center, a campus of UH Regional Hospitals) opened.

1961: Richmond Heights General Hospital (today UH Richmond Medical Center) opened.

1962: Joseph T. Wearn Laboratory for Medical Research opened on the University Circle campus.

1965: Kenneth Ryan, MD, was the first in the world to describe how human ovaries produce estrogen from two types of specialized ovarian cells, laying the foundation for advances in female health.

1967: The Robert H. Bishop Building on the University Circle campus opened.

1968: S.S.C. Yen, MD, developed the first radioimmunoassay techniques for the measurement of three important pregnancy hormones, enhancing the evaluation of maternal and infant health in pregnancy.

1969: Jay Ankeney, MD, performed the first successful off-pump open-heart procedure, which later became the basis for minimally invasive heart surgery.

1970: Measurement of lung function using isotopes and computer drawings developed by Scott Inkley, MD, and James MacIntyre, MD.

1971: Charles Herndon, MD, was one of first surgeons in the United States to perform a hip replacement, conducting the procedure in a specially constructed operating room he designed to reduce infection in joint replacement surgery.

1972: Clyde Nash, MD, Richard Brown, PhD, and Albert Burstein, PhD, developed intraoperative spinal cord monitoring, dramatically improving the safety of complex spinal surgery.

1973: John Kattwinkel, MD, Avroy Fanaroff, MD, and Marshall Klaus, MD, with David Fleming from Biomedical Engineering, developed silicone nasal prongs for the application of continuous positive airway pressure in treating respiratory distress in pre-term and near-term neonates.

1974: Rainbow Hospital merged with Babies and Children’s Hospital to become Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital.

1976: John R. Haaga, MD, pioneered the use of computed tomography (CT) to guide biopsies, nerve blocks, abscess drainage and cancer treatment, significantly reducing the need for patients to have open surgery.

1978: Research technique to record accurate cardiac output was developed by Herman K. Hellerstein, MD, Anthony Bacevice, MD, and Peter Katona, MD.

1979: Jeffrey Ponsky, MD, and Michael Gauderer, MD, performed the first percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy on infants, safely inserting a feeding tube in a minimally invasive manner in a baby’s stomach.

1980: Irwin Merkatz, MD, conducted the first clinical trials of ritodrine, the first Food and Drug Administration-approved drug to inhibit pre-term labor, at UH MacDonald Women’s Hospital.

1981: Nikon Cheung, MD, and other researchers at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, pioneered work treating neuroblastoma patients with antibodies, significantly advancing the field of targeted cancer immune-therapy.

1982: Randall Marcus, MD, developed revolutionary improvements in the design of an interlocking nail system to repair fractures, particularly of the long bones, which improves the healing rate and reduces the risk of infection.

1986: Arthur Zinn, MD, Douglas Kerr, MD, Charles Hoppel, MD, published the first description and detailed characterization of a defect (in the enzyme fumarase) in the famous pathway required for energy metabolism, the Krebs cycle.

1987: Jerrold Ellner, MD, and Frederick Robbins, MD, established a memorandum of understanding with Makerere University in Uganda, linking Cleveland and Kampala AIDS research and care efforts.

1988: Herbert Meltzer, MD, conducted the first human trials of clozapine and established it as an effective medication for treatment-resistant schizophrenic patients.

1989: Joseph Calabrese, MD, in collaboration with researchers at Case Western Reserve University, launched groundbreaking studies that show the effectiveness of anticonvulsants and atypical antipsychotics in treating bipolar disorder.

1990: Anthony Maniglia, MD, was awarded the first of five patents leading to technology for developing the totally implantable cochlear implant.

In 1993, University Hospitals developed a new strategy and model for health care delivery.

1994: Alfred and Norma Lerner Tower & the Samuel Mather Pavilion opened on the University Circle campus through a gift of $10 million.

1995: Michael Konstan, MD, Pamela Davis, MD, PhD, and Charles Hoppel, MD, demonstrated ibuprofen’s profound effect on slowing the loss of lung function in patients with cystic fibrosis, and later showed that twice-daily therapy with high-dose ibuprofen improves survival.

1996: Pierluigi Gambetti, MD, developed the first classification of sporadic prion diseases, now used worldwide in diagnosing this class of dementias, caused by mutation of the prion protein gene.

1997: Leonard and Joan Horvitz Tower opened at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, named in recognition of the Horvitz family for their enduring generosity.

1998: UH became the site of one of the world’s first intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.

History of the Deans,(link is external) Medicine at Michigan magazine, 1999

2000: Raymond Onders, MD, and colleagues developed an innovative diaphragmatic pacing system (DPS) that has since greatly improved the quality of life for paralyzed people and people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

2002: Pamela Davis, MD, PhD, and Michael Konstan, MD, performed the first-in-human clinical trial of a non-viral gene therapy approach in patients with cystic fibrosis using DNA nanoparticles.

Actor Christopher Reeve receives a DPS at UH in 2003

2004: Robert J. Maciunas, MD, was the first surgeon in North America to treat Tourette syndrome with deep brain stimulation.

2005: Cliff Megerian, MD, developed a minimally invasive treatment for glomus jugulare tumors, a rare, non-cancerous skull bone tumor that involves the inner and middle ear.

2006: The UH Medical House Calls program is established, in collaboration with Internal Medicine and Nursing, bringing primary care services to homebound seniors who otherwise would not have access to care.

2008: Mark A. Griswold, PhD, developed parallel imaging technique for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which produces clearer, more accurate images in shorter time.

2009: The Brain Tumor and Neuro-Oncology Center, under the direction of Andrew Sloan, MD, pioneered a minimally invasive, MRI-guided laser system to treat previously inoperable brain tumors.

2010: The Program of All-inclusive Care of the Elderly (PACE), one of only two such programs in Ohio, is established.

2011: UH Ahuja Medical Center opened in Beachwood.

2012: Jonathan Miller, MD, performed the first temporoparietoocipital disconnection in the United States, a procedure to remove tiny, non-functioning, sections of the brain where seizures originate, providing a cure for intractable epilepsy.

The Hospital(s) on Catherine Street,(link is external) Medicine at Michigan magazine, 2013

2014: University Hospitals expanded through the integration of hospitals in Elyria, Parma and Ravenna.

2015: Jonathan Miller, MD, was the first in the world to demonstrate that DBS has the potential to improve memory after traumatic brain injury.

2016: University Hospitals is the first in Ohio and the region to offer proton therapy to treat cancer.