Our History

• Timeline 
• Generous Benefactors
• UI Hospitals and Clinics History

Timeline

• 1800s
• 1900-50
• 1951-80
• 1981-2000
• 2001 to present

1847
State University of Iowa founded on February 25

1868
State legislature approves plan for medical training on UI campus

1870
UI Medical Department holds first classes and, with 10 women in first class, becomes nation’s first co-educational medical school

1898
$55,000, 50-bed University Hospital opens in three-story brick building on east side of the Iowa River (now Seashore Hall), replacing sparse facilities in the Mechanics Academy

1904
State creates University Hygienic Laboratory at UI to study development of infectious diseases like diphtheria, typhoid, tuberculosis, and rabies

1907
University Hospital adds a large new wing

1908
Tuberculosis Sanitorium constructed on Oakdale campus (while it provides patient care and is a teaching site, it does not become a part of University Hospitals until decades later)

1910
The Flexner Report (an evaluation of medical education in U.S. and Canada) recommends that UI College of Medicine and University Hospital change or shut down

1913/1914
University Hospital adds two more wings, bringing capacity to 350 beds

1915
Perkins Act enables children experiencing curable ailments and whose parents cannot afford treatment to receive care at University Hospital at state expense

1919
150-bed Children’s Hospital opens on land acquired by UI for development of a medical campus on west side of the Iowa River

The Haskell-Klaus Act extends state-paid care to all poor children and adults, solidifying University Hospitals’ role as the health service provider for the entire state

1920
Psychopathic Hospital for people with mental diseases opens on west side medical campus

1921
Westlawn opens as a dormitory for nurses on west side medical campus

1922
UI receives $2.25 million from the Rockefeller Foundation, along with state matching funds, to build a new University Hospital on the west campus

1928
Seven story, 735-bed General Hospital—one of the largest in the nation—opens

1932
Statewide ambulance service begins transporting Iowa patients to and from University Hospital

1936
UI establishes Iowa State Services for Crippled Children as a public service unit

1939
UI investigators led by Elmer DeGowin, MD, develop modern-day blood banking

1947
Iowa Hospital School for Severely Handicapped Children opens in Westlawn Building basement; initial enrollment of 8 swells to 20 by end of first year

1950s
Polio epidemic leads to 660 hospitalizations by 1952; at its height, the hospital expands its housing for polio patients to include an operating room, sterilizing room, the library, hallways, and in summer, tents on the lawn

1951
UI Hospitals and Clinics establishes its first cardiac catheterization laboratory

1952
300-bed Veterans Administration Hospital opens in Iowa City

1952
UI establishes first cryobank for frozen semen (first child conceived with sperm stored in this manner is born the next year at UI Hospitals and Clinics)

1953
UI Hospitals and Clinics begins using hypothermia technique for open heart surgery

1955
Iowa Hospital-School program moves into new building known as University Hospital School for Severely Handicapped Children

Ophthalmologists perform UI Hospitals and Clinics’ first cornea transplant

Johann Ehrenhaft, MD, and staff build heart-lung machine able to circulate, oxygenate, and filter the blood of heart surgery patients (machine is first used on June 22, 1956, on five-year-old girl)

1955
UI establishes world’s first Institute of Agricultural Medicine and Occupational Health. Today, researchers from many UI specialties are studying problems on the farm and in the workplace

1960
"Iowa Hospital-School" renamed University Hospital School, and begins serving children with mental as well as physical disabilities

1961
UI College of Medicine establishes Clinical Research Center to promote interdisciplinary research and encourage scientific clinical investigation

1962
Alson Braley, MD, head of Ophthalmology, founds the Eye Bank Network, a group of amateur radio operators who meet on the air twice a day to help the nation’s ophthalmologists obtain donor eyes

1964
Chronic hemodialysis program (located at VA Hospital) begins serving UI Hospitals and Clinics and VA patients

1968
Former bread delivery truck transformed into its first Neonatal Transport van

College of Medicine organizes the Iowa Regional Medical Program to unite scientific research, medical education, and medical care for benefit of Iowa physicians

1969
Surgeons perform UI Hospitals and Clinics’ first kidney transplant

UI Hospitals and Clinics ophthalmologists perform the first laser surgery for eye diseases in Iowa

1970
Drs. Mark Armstrong and William Conners demonstrate for the first time that reduction of blood cholesterol produced improvement in atherosclerotic plaques

1972-73
As part of a commitment to provide personal services to patients and families, UI Hospitals and Clinics establishes Patient Representative Program (1972) and Volunteer Program (1973)

1974
With groundbreaking for the North Tower addition, UI Hospitals and Clinics begins a phased $548 million program to replace outdated patient care facilities

1975
UI Hospitals and Clinics establishes state’s first Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

National Institutes of Health funds an Interdisciplinary Cardiovascular Research Training Program to be administered by the UI Cardiovascular Research Center

1976
North Tower (later renamed Boyd Tower) opens

1977
Iowa Lions Cornea Center opens

1978-1988
Phased development of the Roy J. Carver Pavilion

1979
UI Hospitals and Clinics initiates AirCare helicopter service

First UI Hospitals and Clinics pancreas transplant

1980-1992
Phased development of the John W. Colloton Pavilion

1980
UI Hospitals and Clinics’ first bone marrow transplant procedure performed.

Edward Mason, MD, and associates develop common surgical treatment for severe obesity, vertical banded gastroplasty

1981
UI Hospitals and Clinics’ first unrelated bone marrow transplant procedure performed.

1982
UI Hospitals and Clinics otolaryngologists are nation’s first to implant multi-channel cochlear electrode implant

1983
Building housing Children’s Hospital named after the late Arthur Steindler, MD, who dedicated his life to caring for Iowa’s pediatric orthopaedic patients

1984
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, a major advance in diagnostic imaging, opens

First Children’s Miracle Network Telethon at UI Hospitals and Clinics

1985
UI Hospitals and Clinics surgeons perform state’s first adult heart transplant

First UI Hospitals and Clinics liver transplant

Ronald McDonald House opens as a “home away from home” for families of pediatric patients receiving care at Children’s Hospital of Iowa

James Clifton Center for Digestive Diseases opens as first multidisciplinary subspecialty unit at UI Hospitals and Clinics and one of first nationwide

1987-2000
Development of the John Pappajohn Pavilion

1987
Seven-day-old infant is first child to receive heart transplant at UI Hospitals and Clinics

Three-year-old Iowa boy is the first congenitally deaf child in the world to receive a cochlear implant

UI Hospitals and Clinics’ 10,000th open heart procedure

First hospital in Iowa to successfully use in vitro fertilization technique to create a healthy baby

1988
First UI Hospitals and Clinics hyperbaric chamber opens

1990
UI Hospitals and Clinics ranks highly in first “Best Hospitals in America” listing by U.S.News and World Report (high rankings continue through today)

UI Cancer Center establishes nationwide Cancer Information Service

1991
UI Hospitals and Clinics opens state’s only Positron Emission Tomography unit, a powerful tool for imaging brain, heart, and other organs.

1992-2001
Development of the Pomerantz Family Pavilion, with Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences as first occupant in February 1996

1993
UI Hospitals and Clinics’ first pediatric liver transplant

John and Mary Pappajohn Clinical Cancer Center opens, consolidating multidisciplinary cancer care specialties into new facilities

UI Carver College of Medicine researchers Joseph Zabner and Michael Welsh develop first successful, though temporary, gene therapy for correction of defect in cystic fibrosis

1994
UI becomes national leader in emerging field of telemedicine when federal grant establishes UI National Laboratory for the Study of Rural Telemedicine

UI neuroscience researchers shed valuable light on which parts of brain perform rational decision-making and process emotion

1995
UI Hospitals and Clinics’ first living-related liver transplant

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy becomes available to neonates, infants, and adults with impaired lung function

1996
UI Hospitals and Clinics’ first auditory brain stem implant

UI neuroscientists identify new areas responsible for word finding

1997
UI Center for Macular Degeneration—first of its kind in U.S.—provides patient care while researching better treatments and possible disease prevention

Children’s Hospital of Iowa re-established, reclaiming heritage of excellence in children’s health care created in 1919

1,000th adult bone marrow transplantation at UI Hospitals and Clinics

1998
UI Family Care Center opens in Pomerantz Family Pavilion, providing primary care clinics in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Pediatrics.

UI Hospitals and Clinics certified as Level I Trauma Center with pediatric commitment—Iowa’s first and only hospital with this highest level designation

Hospital celebrates its centennial

1999
First communications campaign features new identity for the partnership between UI Hospitals and Clinics and the UI Carver College of Medicine: University of Iowa Health Care

UI brain experts find conclusive signs of different brain activity in introverts and extroverts

UI physicians announce availability of breakthrough treatment for epilepsy

2000
Innovative features make new Otolaryngology Institute one of most advanced ear, nose, and throat care facilities in world

$25 million gift from Holden family of Williamsburg, Iowa, provides unprecedented support for cancer research, education, and treatment at UI

Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center earns National Cancer Institute’s highest designation—comprehensive status

8-pound Iowa infant becomes one of world’s smallest persons to receive liver transplant in procedure performed at Children’s Hospital of Iowa

Iowa woman with congenital heart defect becomes first patient at UI Hospitals and Clinics to receive new pacemaker that prevents both slow and fast heart rates

In recognition of $90 million in total support, UI Carver College of Medicine is named after Roy J. Carver and his widow, Lucille A. Carver

UI Hospitals and Clinics surgeons help pioneer robotic surgery

2003
49-year-old Illinois man becomes the 2,500th patient to receive kidney transplant at UI Hospitals and Clinics

UI Hospitals and Clinics, in conjunction with St. Luke’s Hospital, Cedar Rapids, receives approval to begin training resident physicians in emergency medicine

2004
UI Hospitals and Clinics becomes first hospital in Iowa to receive the prestigious Magnet Award for Nursing Excellence

University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics opens new UI Maternity Center, including sophisticated new neonatal and pediatric intensive care units, also part of  University of Iowa Children’s Hospital

First class of physicians in Iowa's only residency training program in emergency medicine begins studies at UI Hospitals and Clinics

2005
UI researchers lead largest clinical trial for tinnitus (‘ringing in the ears’) ever funded by U.S. government

At 5.6 pounds, Iowa infant becomes smallest patient ever to receive robotic surgery in procedure performed at Children’s Hospital of Iowa

New, highly advanced Center of Excellence in Image-Guided Radiation Therapy opens

Physicians perform world’s first magnetically guided procedure in human lung using a magnetic guided technology called Stereotaxis®

One-day-old Iowa girl becomes world’s youngest person to receive robotic surgery following duodenal procedure at Children’s Hospital of Iowa

2006
Pioneering tool developed by UI urologist helps physicians tailor infertility treatments for couples who cannot conceive

Gifts totaling $13.7 million—including $10 million from Carver family—fund three endowed chairs, create a genetics testing lab, and rename Carver Family Center for Macular Degeneration

UI’s cochlear implant clinical research center wins $10 million award from National Institutes of Health