The Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, affectionately referred to as P&S, is a graduate school of Columbia University located on a satellite campus in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. P&S enrolls approximately 634 students studying Medicine and is widely considered one of the United State's major medical schools. Furthermore, P&S is a part of the associated Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and as such, its work is highly interlinked with the other medical programs in New York City and also that of the medical branch of Cornell University.

Student Life

Campus

Situated on land overlooking the Hudson River and separated from Columbia's undergraduate campus in Morningside Heights by approximately 50 blocks and the neighborhood of Harlem, the Health Sciences Campus proves to have its own unique standing and identity. The campus is comprised of not only P&S, but also the School for Oral and Dental Surgery, the School of Nursing, the Mailman School of Public Health, the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

P&S Club

There are a host of student clubs available at P&S that cover a range of interests, both professional and personal; all of these clubs fall under the umbrella of the P&S Club. Founded over a century ago by John Mott, the 1946 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, the P&S Club serves to support and provide activities and organizations for the enrichment of the lives of P&S students. The P&S Club is most notably known for its humanitarian aims; most notably the 1917 purchase of a steam launch delivered to Sir William Grenfell, a physician living in Labrador. This launch was used to deliver medical services to the Eskimo and Native American fishermen living on the islands of the Labrador coast and was frequently manned by P&S students during their summer vacation.

History

Colonial Years

In 1767 King's College (now Columbia University) opened a medical school. At the time, the medical program at King's College was the first to open in New York and only the second to be opened in the American Colonies, the first being founded in 1765 at the University of Pennsylvania. Three years later, in 1770, King's College conferred its first medical degree to Robert Tucker, this would prove to be the first Doctor of Medicine awarded in the Thirteen Colonies. King's College continued to educate young doctors until 1776 when the school was forced to close due to the onset of the Revolutionary War and the occupation of New York by British soldiers. King's College remained closed until 1784 when the school was reopened as Columbia College and in December of that year the faculty of the medical school were re-instated. In 1791 Dr. Samuel Bard, a prominent colonial physician whom George Washington credited with saving his life, was named dean of the medical school.

Merger with the College of Physicians and Surgeons

In 1807, with a growing young nation in need of adequately trained doctors, the New York State Board of Regents founded, under separate charter, the College of Physicians and Surgeons. And merely 4 years later, in 1811, Dr. Samuel Bard, dean of Columbia Medical School, became president of the College. The year 1814 then saw the merger of Columbia Medical School into the College of Physicians and Surgeons, a move that was made in an attempt to stymie what was then seen as a period of decline for the medical school. Despite this merger, the College of Physicians and Surgeons retained its independence from Columbia and it was only in 1860 that the College of Physicians and Surgeons, after severing its ties to the New York Board of Regents and through agreement between the trustees of the College of Physicians and Surgeons and Columbia, became the official Department of Medicine for Columbia. However, this new relationship between the College and Columbia was minimal at best with the College still retaining independence from Columbia. It was not until 1891 that the College of Physicians and Surgeons would be fully integrated and incorporated into Columbia.

Medical Center Formation

In 1911 Columbia University entered into a Formal Agreement of Alliance with Presbyterian Hospital, a hospital founded in 1868 by James Lennox a New York philanthropist. It was this alliance that helped to pave the way for the creation of a new medical center format. In 1928 the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center opened its doors. Set on land in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center was the first place in the world to provide facilities for patient care, medical education and research all under one roof. Included in this project with Presbyterian Hospital were the Babies Hospital, the Neurologic Institute of New York, and the New York State Psychiatric Institute; these were then joined in 1950 by the New York Orthopaedic Hospital.

Notable P&S Alumni

Notable P&S Alumni have included popular and notable medical innovators such as Dr. Benjamin Spock, Dr. Virginia Apgar, and Dr. Charles Drew. For a further listing of notable Columbians see: List of Columbia University people.