A History of the University of Massachusetts Medical School: Integrating Primary Care and Biomedical Research

Ellen S. More — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 12:31:06 PDT

The University of Massachusetts Medical School was chartered in 1962 and opened in 1970, one of the cohort of medical schools founded in response to fears of a physician shortage. In Massachusetts, this translated into a call for more opportunities for the state’s students to attend an affordable school where, it was hoped, they would deliver primary care to the people of their home state. Yet, the original dean and faculty, most of whom were recruited from Boston medical schools, were equally devoted to basic research and tertiary care medicine. This book tells the story of the school’s successful efforts to reconcile the demands of primary care education with world-class research, with Part 1 telling the sometimes raucous story of the politics attendant on bringing the school from legislative enactment to actual groundbreaking, a process lasting more than 20 years.

Author biography

Ellen S. More, Ph.D. is a historian of medicine specializing in the history of the medical profession and medical education. She is the author or editor of three previous books, including Restoring the Balance: Women Physicians and the Profession of Medicine, 1850-1995 (Harvard), winner of the Rossiter Prize from the History of Science Society, and Women Physicians and the Cultures of Medicine (Johns Hopkins), co-edited with Elizabeth Fee and Manon Parry, winner of the Best Publication award from the Archivists and Librarians of the History of the Health Sciences. She was the Visiting Curator for the National Library of Medicine exhibition “Changing the Face of Medicine.” She is the head of the Office of Medical History and Archives of the UMass Medical School Lamar Soutter Library, and Professor of Psychiatry.

History of UMass Worcester

A History of the University of Massachusetts Medical School: Integrating Primary Care and Biomedical Research