Ohio State University College of Medicine

The Ohio State University College of Medicine, also formerly known as The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health, is The Ohio State University's medical school. It is located in Columbus, Ohio, and was formerly known as The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health. The rankings published in U.S. News & World Report attest to the fact that the college has a stellar reputation not just for its educational programmes but also for its cutting-edge research. Its two primary teaching hospitals, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Nationwide Children's Hospital, were both named to the select honour roll of U.S. hospitals by U.S. News & World Report in 2009. These hospitals were both ranked as one of the best hospitals in the United States in ten different medical specialties in 2009.

The OSU College of Medicine may trace its origins back to March 3, 1834, when Willoughby University of Lake Erie was established in Willoughby, Ohio. Dr. Westel Willoughby (1789–1844), the school's namesake and first president, supervised the institution's operations until 1843, when a faculty dispute prompted their departure.

Willoughby Medical College of Columbus was established in 1847 by unhappy faculty members in Columbus, Ohio. On January 14, 1847, the Willoughby Medical College of Columbus was granted a new charter by the Ohio Assembly. The first year of classes were attended by 150 students, many of whom were medical students who had transferred from The University of Lake Erie. Lyne Starling, a rich local business entrepreneur, made contact with the school almost as soon as it opened, and he made an offer of $35,000 to build a new hospital and school complex in Columbus. At that historical period, the notion of a hospital devoted only to the education of medical students was revolutionary.

The Starling Medical College, which was named after its sponsor and construction of which began in 1848 but was not finished until 1887, was not designated until 1848. At the Starling Medical College, Dr. Starling Loving served in several capacities, including as a trustee, lecturer, and dean. Dr. Loving was instrumental in bringing the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis to the region so that they could take charge of the hospital, which would later be given the name St. Francis Hospital.

James Fairchild Baldwin and many other faculty members departed the school in 1875, while elections were being held for a new chairman of the board. The next year, in 1876, they established another medical school known as the Columbus Medical College. The building of a brand new hospital, the Hawkes Hospital of Mt. Carmel, which was to be run by the Sisters of the Holy Cross, was under way in the year 1882 at the Columbus Medical College.

Baldwin was enraged when, in 1892, students and faculty from Columbus Medical College joined with students and faculty from Starling Medical College. In 1892, he and many other members of the faculty quit their positions and founded the Ohio Medical University, which was yet another medical school. The Ohio Medical University was responsible for the construction of the Protestant Hospital, which later became the Riverside Methodist Hospitals and still stands today.

The Starling-Ohio Medical College was established as a result of a merger that took place in 1907 between the Ohio Medical University and the Starling Medical College.

In 1914, the Ohio State College of Medicine was founded, and William Means served as the institution's first dean. In the 1940s, the university offered a medical education curriculum that lasted for two years. This was increased to a period of three years in the 1970s, and then to a period of four years in the 1980s.