** OHSU History **
1867 Less than a quarter century after the Oregon Trail opened, and only eight years after Oregon joined the Union, Willamette University welcomed its first medical students to its Salem campus.
1877 Willamette University’s medical program relocates to Portland.
1880 The Oregon Railroad and Navigation company buys 360 acres of land, sight unseen, atop Marquam Hill. Their plan was to build a railroad depot, terminal and more.
1887 The University of Oregon charters a state medical school in Portland and begins the University of Oregon Department of Medicine.
1898 The Oregon College of Dentistry is founded in Portland
1899 The Tacoma College of Dental Surgery moves to Portland. The following year both schools merge to form the North Pacific Dental College, later renamed the North Pacific College of Oregon.
1913 Willamette University and the University of Oregon merge programs to form the University of Oregon Medical School.
1917 The present 116-acre Marquam Hill campus gets its start with a 20-acre tract donated by the Oregon-Washington Railroad and Navigation Company, and an 88-acre tract donated by the family of C.S. Jackson, former publisher of the Oregon Journal.
The state wide Children's Development and Rehabilitation Center Service Program is established in the School of Medicine to provide diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitation services for handicapped children.
1919 The University of Oregon Medical School moves from downtown Portland to its present location on Marquam Hill in southwest Portland.
The first building, Mackenzie Hall, was named after Kenneth A.J. Mackenzie, MD, the railroad’s surgeon who had convinced the railroad company to donate the worthless land on top of the hill. The first class had 66 students, and a volunteer faculty of more than 40 instructors.
The University of Oregon in Eugene begins offering courses in nursing.
1920 The Portland School of Social Work begins offering courses in public health nursing.
1923 Multnomah County Hospital opens on the Marquam Hill campus and contracts with the medical school to provide services to indigent patients.
1926 The University of Oregon establishes a five-year program leading to a degree in nursing. The following year a nursing dormitory is built on campus.
Doernbecher Memorial Hospital for Children is built on the Marquam Hill campus and becomes the first full-service children's hospital in the Pacific Northwest.
1928 The University of Oregon Medical School takes over operation of Doernbecher.
1931 The outpatient clinic building is constructed and opens on Marquam Hill allowing medical and nursing students and residents gain practical experience.
1932 The Department of Nursing Education begins.
1945 The University of Oregon Dental School begins.
1954 The Child Development and Rehabilitation Center facility is built on Marquam Hill.
1956 The Medical School Hospital is built on Marquam Hill. The University of Oregon Dental School moves from Northeast Oregon Street to its present location on Marquam Hill.
1960 The Department of Nursing Education becomes the University of Oregon School of Nursing in Portland within the Oregon State System of Higher Education.
1973 University Hospital is created through the merger of Multnomah County Hospital, Medical School Hospital and the outpatient clinics.
1974 University of Oregon Health Sciences Center is formed as an independent institution under the direction of the Oregon State System of Higher Education. The schools of Dentistry, Medicine and Nursing are brought together under one umbrella to create this new center. The center becomes Oregon's only academic health center and one of 125 in the nation.
1981 The institution is renamed Oregon Health Sciences University.
1987 Construction is completed on the Vollum Institute for Advanced Biomedical Research. The institute is dedicated to the study of the brain and nervous system at the molecular level.
OHSU is designated one of two Level 1 trauma care centers in Oregon.
1989 The Center for Ethics in Health Care is created to promote interdisciplinary study of ethical issues in health care.
The State Office of Rural Health becomes part of OHSU in an effort to help rural areas better address their unique health care needs.
1990 Dotter Interventional Institute is established at OHSU to honor the pioneer of interventional radiology.
1991 Casey Eye Institute opens on Marquam Hill.
Construction is completed for the Biomedical Information Communication Center, which provides library, audiovisual and teleconferencing services; public computer services; and health informatics.
1992 The Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology building opens. CROET is one of the first facilities in the world to combine the use of molecular and cell biology to study the adverse effects of chemicals on the body and, in particular, the nervous system.
The Veteran's Affairs Medical Center bridge opens. The 660-foot-long suspended pedestrian enclosed skybridge is the longest in North America.
The School of Nursing building opens.
1993 The School of Nursing begins coordinating a state wide integrated nursing education system that includes programs at OHSU, Eastern Oregon State University, Southern Oregon State University and the Oregon Institute of Technology.
Oregon Health Policy Institute, an interdisciplinary center of OHSU, Portland State University and Oregon State University is created as a resource center for collecting, analyzing and disseminating health policy information.
Physicians Pavilion opens on Marquam Hill to provide modern outpatient services.
1994 The Oregon Regional Primate Research Center joins OHSU as an affiliate research institute.
1995 OHSU becomes a public corporation and separates from the Oregon State System of Higher Education. Governance of OHSU changes from the Board of Higher Education to the OHSU Board of Directors, whose members are nominated by the governor and approved by the Oregon Senate.
1996 University Hospital is renamed Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital.
The first of OHSU's primary care neighborhood clinics opens in southwest Portland.
1997 Planning begins for the Center for Women's Health, and an interim director is named. The center is intended to offer a place where women's concerns can be addressed in a comprehensive, comforting and supportive manner. The center will use a collaborative model that encourages women to actively participate in their care.
1998 The Mark O. Hatfield Research Center is dedicated. The center houses a variety of basic and clinical research programs that have the potential to spark new therapies. It includes such programs as the Clinical Research Center, the Oregon Hearing Research Center, Doernbecher Children's Hospital Pediatric Research Laboratories, the Bone and Mineral Unit's osteoporosis studies, the Oregon Stroke Center, and the Oregon Cancer Center.
Doernbecher Children's Hospital's new state-of-the-art pediatric medical complex is opened. Built with private funding and bond revenues, Doernbecher provides the widest range of health care services for children in the region.
The Neurological Sciences Institute joins the university as its fifth research unit. NSI researchers conduct research to advance understanding of the brain and neurological disorders. Current areas of research emphasis include movement control, neural development and degeneration, sensory systems, neural plasticity and learning.
The Oregon Regional Primate Research Center becomes an OHSU research unit.
2001 The Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute and Neurological Sciences Institute buildings open on OHSU's west campus.
OHSU's name changes to Oregon Health & Science University as Gov. John Kitzhaber signs legislation expanding OHSU's mission and paving the way for merger with Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology. The merger took place July 1, 2001.
Oregon Cancer Center changes its name to OHSU Cancer Institute.
2002 Oregon Regional Primate Research Center changes its name to Oregon National Primate Research Center.
Marquam Hill is designated a "plan district" by the Portland City council.
2003 OHSU breaks ground for its first building in the South Waterfront District.
OHSU breaks ground for a new research building on Marquam Hill campus.
2004 The Schnitzer Investment Corporation donates nearly 20 acres of riverfront property in South Waterfront to OHSU.
2005 Biomedical Research Building opens on Marquam Hill.
2006 Peter O. Kohler Pavilion opens as state-of-the-art patient care facility on Marquam Hill.
