Dartmouth Medical School Milestones


  • 1797 Nathan Smith founds Dartmouth Medical School, the nation's 4th oldest
  • 1838 Stethoscope introduced to US medical curriculum by DMS's poet-physician, Oliver Wendell Holmes
  • 1896 First clinical x-ray in America taken at Dartmouth
  • 1955 Special-care unit established at Dartmouth, considered the nation's first ICU
  • 1981 The first continuous infusion pump for pain management developed and implanted at DHMC
  • 1983 Nation's first autologous bone marrow transplant performed at DHMC
  • 1996 The first Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care published
  • 2001 Micro RNAs discovered at Dartmouth
  • 2005 Release of HPV vaccine proven effective by clinical trials at Dartmouth
  • 2010 Dartmouth Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence established in partnership with Thayer School of Engineering and Norris Cotton Cancer Center with $12.8 million grant from the National Cancer Institute
  • 2010 Research at Norris Cotton Cancer Center and DMS paves way for a new drug to fight chronic kidney disease, now being commercially manufactured and distributed in Asia.

"We find ourselves today at Dartmouth Medical School in a unique position at a unique time in our school's history. The stars are aligning for us to lead in the transformation of medical education, which is essential if we are to create a health care delivery system that ensures the healthiest population possible. The commitment of our faculty and our students to learning, discovery, and healing is powerful. We must therefore step up to plate and deliver on our promise to connect minds to transform lives."
—Wiley "Chip" Souba, MD, ScD, MBA, Dean of Dartmouth Medical School