Leading Discovery: URC Medical Milestones
Read the full report: “Leading Discovery: URC Contributions to the Life, Medical and Health Sciences“
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1869
Forging a Path - Joseph Ferguson, M.D.
Wayne State University | Jospeh Ferguson, M.D. becomes the first African-American graduate of the Detroit Medical College, established in 1868. He is the first African American in Detroit (and most likely in Michigan) to earn a medical degree. He also was instrumental in the Underground Railroad and in the movement to integrate Detroit's Public schools.
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1869
The First University-Owned Hospital Opens
University of Michigan | U-M opens the first university-owned medical facility in the United States. The 20-bed hospital is located in the residence of a former professor. It has no wards or operating rooms.
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1877
Pioneering Hybrid Crops
Michigan State University | MSU Professor William J. Beal performs first documented genetic crosses to produce hybrid corn, dramatically increasing the yield.
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1888
Extending the Reach of Research and Knowledge
Michigan State University | The Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station - now MSU AgBioResearch - is created after the passage of the 1887 Hatch Act, which called for a nationwide network of agricultural experiment stations.
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1898
Founding Radical Chemistry
University of Michigan | U-M professor Moses Gomberg synthesizes the compound tetraphenylmethane, which includes an "organic free radical" - a highly reactive collection of atoms. In doing so, Gomberg becomes the founder of radical chemistry, central to the understanding of everything from polymerization to atmospheric reactions.
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1913
Founding of Cancer Genetics
University of Michigan | U-M's Dr. Aldred Warthin, a pathologist, becomes one of the first researchers to establish that cancer can be hereditary.
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1929
Making Pasteurized, Homogenized Milk... Taste Good
Michigan State University | MSU dairy industry pioneer G. Malcolm Trout links the processes of pasteurization and homogenization, helping to make homogenized milk feasible. Building on the work of two legendary Frenchmen - Louis Pasteur, who discovered in 1864 that heating kills most bacteria in liquids such as wine, beer or milk; and Auguste Gaulin, who patented a 'homogenizing' machine that emulsified milk in 1899 - Trout found that homogenized milk needed to be pasteurized first in order to have an appealing taste.
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1934
Protecting Children: The DPT Vaccine
University of Michigan | U-M Scientists Pearl Kendrick and Grace Eldering began testing a new vaccine for pertussis, or whooping cough. The vaccine worked, all but ending the scourge of whooping cough deaths. They later combined shots of diptheria, whooping cough, and tetanus into the single DPT shot children routinely receive today.
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1943
Breaking Barriers - Marjorie Peebles-Meyers, M.D.
Wayne State University | Marjorie Peebles-Meyers, M.D., graduates from Wayne State University College of Medicine, the school's first African-American female graduate. She also became the first African-American female resident and chief resident at Detroit Receiving Hospital.
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1952
Making Open-Heart Surgery Possible, and Commonplace Today
Wayne State University | WSU's Dr. Forest Dewey Dodrill is the first to use a mechanical heart to operate on a patient. The historic operation re-routes blood around the heart, allowing the surgeon to repair a damaged valve. The concept and practice are now standard worldwide and used for more than 1 million patients annually.
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1955
"Safe, Effective, and Potent" Vaccine for Polio
University of Michigan | U-M professor Thomas Francis Jr. concludes the two-year national field trials of the Salk polio vaccine, and on April 12, 1955, announces to the world that the vaccine developed by his former student Jonas Salk is "safe, effective, and potent."
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1959
Testing the Concept of Herd Immunity
University of Michigan | U-M's School of Public Health launches the Tecumseh (Michigan) Community Health Study, a longitudinal epidemiological study that transforms scientific understanding of chronic disease and tests the concept of herd immunity.
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1962
Deciphering the Course of Human Evolution
Wayne State University | WSU School of Medicine researcher Dr. Morris Goodman discovers chimpanzees and gorillas are genetically more closely related to humans than to other apes. His research, based on molecular evidence, has since been generally accepted, including a later discovery from DNA sequences that chimpanzees and humans are more closely related to each other than either is to the gorillas or other apes.
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1974
Protecting the Public from Threats to Animal Health
Michigan State University | In response to an unprecedented number of cattle deaths on farms throughout Michigan and to assist the sate in the management of PBBs, MSU establishes the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, or what is known today as the Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health.
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1978
Cisplatin - The "Penicillin of Cancer Drugs"
Michigan State University | The Food and Drug Administration approves the use of Cisplatin, an MSU innovation that greatly improves the treatment of testicular and some ovarian and colon cancers.
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1987
Creating Hope - First Generation Treatment of Aids
Wayne State University | WSU researcher Dr. Jerome Horowitz develops the first FDA-approved drug to treat AIDS patients. The discovery of using AZT to treat AIDS gives hope to millions of patients and their families. AZT is still used today to treat AIDS.
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1988
Evolution in Action
Michigan State University | The longest running E. coli experiment creates a window into evolution in action.
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1994
Transforming Focus on Women's Health Research
University of Michigan | Under the direction of professor MaryFran Sowers, the U-M School of Public Health becomes a site for the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN), a multisite longitudinal epidemiological study designed to examine the health of women during their middle years. Sower's groundbreaking research in this and other studies helps transform women's health into a major discipline.
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1998
DNA Laboratory of a Chip
University of Michigan | U-M Professor Mark Burns headed up a multidisciplinary team that creates miniature "laboratory on a chip" kits to analyze DNA samples.
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2001
Mainstreaming Depression in Medical Research
University of Michigan | U-M establishes the Comprehensive Depression Center, the first of its kind - devoted entirely to bringing depression into the mainstream of medical research, transformational care, education, and public policy.
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2011
Reducing Risk of Preterm Labor and Infant Mortality
Wayne State University | WSU researcher Dr. Sonia Hassan develops a test identifying mothers at high risk for preterm birth. Treating these high-risk mothers with progesterone cuts the risk of early delivery in half.
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2011
On-Campus Radio-Pharmacy Improves Patient Access
Michigan State University | MSU opens a radio-pharmacy on campus to streamline access to nuclear imaging agents created at an MSU cyclotron. This change means improved access to patients needing advanced imaging.
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2014
National Leader - Anna Ledgerwood, M.D.
Wayne State University | WSU professor Anna Ledgerwood, M.D. is named the first female president of the American Surgical Association. The ASA is the nation's oldest - and considered by many the most prestigious - surgical organization.
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2015
Fighting Childhood Death from Cerebral Malaria
Michigan State University | MSU's Tropical Medicine team discovers the cause of death to children from cerebral Malaria.
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2021
Today & Future Innovations
University Research Corridor | Researchers across the URC are conducting research that leads to new discoveries and technological innovations that will continue to positively impact people across Michigan and around the world.
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