1840
Missouri Medical College founded as part of Kemper College. Noted surgeon Joseph Nash McDowell was its dean.
1842
St. Louis Medical College founded as part of Saint Louis University (separated from SLU in 1855). Its early lead surgeon was Charles Alexander Pope.
1891
St. Louis Medical College becomes Medical Department of Washington University (Washington University School of Medicine established).
1902
Jewish Hospital opens.
1910
Training of urologic surgeons begins with appointment of John Caulk as professor of clinical genitourinary surgery.
1914-19
1914
Barnes Hospital opens. Frederick Murphy appointed surgeon-in-chief.
1919-51
1919
Evarts Graham appointed first Bixby Professor and full-time chairman of the Department of Surgery. Soon after, he establishes “chest service” for thoracic surgery. Graham serves until 1951.
1924
Department researchers develop cholecystography for visualization of the gallbladder.
1925
Vilray Blair appointed first division chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery.
1931
Construction completed on Rand-Johnson Surgical Wing at Barnes Hospital.
1933
Evarts Graham performs first successful one-stage pneumonectomy for cancer.
1942
James Barrett Brown joins U.S. Army as European Senior Consultant in Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery. Brown assembles a large team of plastic surgeons to treat wounded veterans returning from World War II, leading to new techniques and strengthening plastic surgeons’ role in hand reconstruction.
1951-65
1951
Carl Moyer named chairman. He serves until 1965.
1953
Justin Cordonnier becomes first full-time head of urologic surgery.
1962
Washington University Medical Center established.
1963
William Newton performs Barnes Hospital’s first kidney transplant.
1967-78
1967
Walter Ballinger named chairman. He serves until 1978.
1968
Separate clinical service for pediatric cardiothoracic patients created at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
1972
Pediatric surgery division established.
1973
Kidney transplant program established at Barnes Hospital.
1981-97
1981
Samuel Wells Jr. named chairman. He serves until 1997.
1985
Washington University surgeons establish world’s 16th liver transplant program at Barnes Hospital.
1987
Researchers in cardiothoracic surgery division led by James Cox develop surgical cure for atrial fibrillation.
1988
Cardiothoracic surgery division creates separate service for general thoracic surgery.
1990
Urologic surgery division performs first laparoscopic nephrectomy.
1993
Washington University Institute for Minimally Invasive Surgery (WUIMIS) established.
1996
Barnes-Jewish Hospital created by merger of Barnes Hospital and The Jewish Hospital of St. Louis.
1996
Washington University transplant surgeons at Barnes-Jewish Hospital perform first adult-to-adult living donor liver transplant in the United States.
1998-
1998
Current Bixby Professor and chairman Timothy Eberlein appointed.
1999
Timothy Eberlein appointed director of the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine.
2001
Opening of Center for Advanced Medicine adjacent to the old Jewish Hospital as site for providing state-of-the-art outpatient care.
2004
New modified Cox-Maze procedure for atrial fibrillation – developed by Washington University cardiac surgeons – shown to be as effective as traditional open procedure.
2005
Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center designated a Comprehensive Cancer Center by National Cancer Institute.
2005
Twenty-eight new operating rooms, cardiothoracic ICU open at Barnes-Jewish Hospital as part of three-year renewal project.
2007
Section of Minimally Invasive Surgery established within the Division of General Surgery.
2008
First U.S. incision-free procedure for obesity performed at Washington University.
2010
Division of Public Health Sciences founded to prevent disease, promote health and improve quality and access to health care.
2012
Nerve transplant pioneer Susan Mackinnon, MD, develops nerve transfer technique to restore hand function in quadriplegic patient.
2014
Transplant surgeons publish 10-year study supporting retrieval of organs from donors in a regional stand-alone facility, which is less costly than hospital-based retrieval.
2015
Siteman Cancer Center receives the highest possible rating from the National Cancer Institute.
2016
Barnes-Jewish Hospital sets new monthly record of 390 trauma admissions. The trauma center treats about 13,000 trauma patients annually with a 99 percent survival rate.
2019
Timothy Eberlein and Alvin J. Siteman are named Citizens of the Year by the St. Louis Dispatch for their work on the foundation and growth of Siteman Cancer Center.
2020
Siteman Cancer Center once again receives the highest possible rating—exceptional—from the National Cancer Institute based on a review of its research programs.
2021
Washington University School of Medicine receives $17 million grant from the National Institute of Health funded through the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Moonshot program to fund cancer research within underrepresented groups in medicine.
2022
Current chair and William K. Bixby Professor John Olson is appointed.
2023
Washington University transplant surgeons perform the first robotic liver transplant in the United States at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.