Since 1843, the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine has been at the forefront of medical education, a leader and innovator in biomedical research, training the next generation of physicians, scientists and medical professionals, and dedicated to supporting community healthcare, locally and globally. Today, it is one of the top-25 medical schools in the country and both the #1 medical school and largest biomedical research institution in Ohio. It has nearly two dozen program and degree options for prospective students, including the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University program, and is 14th in the nation for graduating both successful faculty and African American physicians. In 2019, it opened the doors of the new 485,000 square foot Health Education Campus, bringing together multiple health profession students from across the university under one roof to promote interprofessional education and collaborative practice. Throughout its history, the school pioneered such curricular developments as integrating clinical and basic sciences, requiring original research theses for graduation, introducing students to clinical work in the first year, and establishing the first dual-degree MD/PhD program in the country. By 1865, the school had graduated the third African American to earn an MD from a recognized American medical school, and 6 of the first 7 women to do the same. In the early 1900s, the school was considered one of the top two medical schools in the nation. The school is affiliated with 5 top-ranked hospitals, and its research prowess has supported such achievements as the first simulated milk formula for infants, the first heart-lung machine for open-heart surgery, the discovery of BHG PolyA, creation of the first artificial human chromosome, the first stool DNA tests for early detection of colon cancer, and the development of both Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting and the first rapid-detection device for malaria.
