History
The origins of the Department of Medicine date back to the chairmanship of John Walker Moore and the post World War II era when full-time faculty of Medicine were first appointed. Prior to that time, the key to the early success of the Uof L's School of Medicine (established in 1837 and as such is the 10th oldest in the nation) was attributable to its great Professors of Medicine including Daniel Drake, Austin Flint Sr., David Yandell, Sr. and Lunsford Yandell Jr. These individuals provided leadership to an apprenticeship model with voluntary faculty teaching the practice of Medicine in the 19th Century. The 20th century brought legendary leaders such as John Walker Moore, J. Murray Kinsman and Beverly Towery, who relied heavily on voluntary faculty and struggled to develop full-time faculty for the teaching of a discipline-oriented curriculum. In so doing they provided excellent mentorship to the teaching faculty of Internal Medicine so that their graduates became known for excellent patient care in Kentucky and Ohio Valley and surrounding states.
The second half of the 20th century saw the development of traditionally discipline-based subspecialties and the achievement of a critical mass of full time faculty. Programmatic Educational and Research development has now been achieved even in the youngest division namely, General Internal Medicine by the inclusion of Geriatrics and Health Policy Research to its missions signaling the importance of the aging population and health policy reform to both patient care and academic programs in the Department. Mission statements were also developed and recently updated to unify the departments' common purposes.
Louisville General Hospital was closed when University Hospital opened. The building was renovated for the School of Medicine administrative offices.
The School of Medicine was located at 101 W. Chestnut Street which currently houses the Greater Louisville Medical Society.
