Skip to Main Content

MUSC Timeline and Events

The following is a list of important events in MUSC history. The information in this guide is updated regularly. Please report any errors or omissions to the Waring Historical Library. If you don't see the answer to your question, please contact the library.


1900 - 1999


Year Events
1901 First women graduated from the College of Medicine: Love Rosa Hirschmann Gantt, Emilie Melanie Viett Rundlett
1904 City Hospital's South Carolina Training School for Nurses becomes Roper Hospital Training School for Nurses
1904 First women graduated from the College of Pharmacy: Hebe E. Butler, Jane W. Colson
1913 Medical College of the State of South Carolina became a state institution
1914 Medical College of the State of South Carolina campus moves to its current location
1919 Roper Hospital Training Schools for Nurses becomes the School of Nursing at the Medical College of the State of South Carolina
1919 Charleston Public Health Officer Leon Banov (Graduate, School of Medicine) instituted the first municipal milk pasteurization program in the country
1924 Centennial Memorial of the Medical College of the State of South Carolina, 1824 - 1924 published
1936 Kenneth Lynch (President, MCSC, 1949 - 1960) and William Atmar Smith link brown lung disease (asbestosis) with cancer
1947 Horace G. Smithy (Assistant Professor of Surgery) designs valvulotome and pioneered mitral valve heart surgery
1947 Maxine Larisey becomes first female professor in School of Pharmacy
1948 Elsie Taber becomes first female full-time professor in School of Medicine
1950 First students admitted to the Graduate Studies Program
1950-1951 Board of Trustee title changes from President and Vice President to Chairman and Vice Chairman
1952 College's name changes back to the original Medical College of South Carolina
1953 SC General Assembly approves the establishment of the Dental School at the Medical College of South Carolina
1964 John E. Buhler, D.D.S., arrives as First Dean of the School of Dental Medicine to develop faculty and facilities
1965 School of Graduate Studies officially opens
1965 First African-American student admitted to the College of Medicine (did not graduate)
1965 Thomas S. Hargest and Curtis P. Artz (Department of Surgery) invent fluidized airbed for use in burn therapy
1966 School of Allied Health Sciences founded, later became the College of Health Professions in 1993
1966 School of Nursing diploma became a baccalaureate degree
1967 First class enrolled in the School of Dental Medicine
1968 First organ transplant (renal) at MCSC
1969 Medical College of South Carolina becomes Medical University of South Carolina, and the schools within it become colleges
1969 Hospital Workers' strike lasts for ninety days (March 20 - June 27)
1970 Family Practice Program established as one of the first in the nation. Dr. Hiram B. Curry named Professor and Chairman of the new department
1971 First African American graduates from the College of Medicine, Bernard W. Deas, Jr
1971 First class graduates from the College of Dental Medicine.
1971 First male African American graduates from the College of Pharmacy, James L. Hodges
1972 First female African American graduates from the College of Nursing, Rosslee Douglas
1973 First female graduates from the College of Dental Medicine, Cathy Moss Owen
1973 First female African American graduates from the College of Medicine, Delores Gibbs
1974 First male African American graduates from the College of Dental Medicine, George McTeer
1974 Sesquicentennial, 1824 - 1974: Tradition, Progress, Excellence published
1974-1982 Albert Bruce Sabin, MD (developer of oral polio vaccine) is Distinguished Research Professor of Biomedicine.
1975 First male African American graduates from MUSC's College of Nursing B.S. program, Joe Nelson Mitchell
1977 First female African American graduates from the College of Graduate Studies, Emma Frazier
1980 First female African Americans graduate from the College of Pharmacy, Phyllis C. Johnson-Wolf, Janice N. Jones, and Cassandra Tisdale
1983 First female African American graduates from the College of Dental Medicine, Dorothea Gertrude Taylor
1992 100th anniversary of the Medical University Alumni Association
1997 Anesthesiologist Joanne Conroy, M.D., appointed the first woman department head in the history of the College of Medicine
   

THE WARING HISTORICAL LIBRARY

175 Ashley Avenue | MSC 403 | Charleston, SC 29425 | (843) 792-2288