Duke Medicine Timeline

North Carolina Cerebral Palsy Hospital is dedicated with 40 beds. It is later renamed to Lenox Baker Hospital.

Duke pediatrician Jay Arena leads the push for drug companies to develop the child-proof safety cap for medicine bottles.

North Carolina Cerebral Palsy Hospital opens, established with federal funds on property donated by Duke University. It is later renamed Lenox Baker Hospital.

Hanes House for Nurses opens.

In response to the challenges of greater patient responsibility for nurses, the School of Nursing launches a four-year professional program leading to a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree.

The Duke Poison Control Center is organized, becoming the second such center in the United States.

Psychiatrist Ewald W. Busse establishes the Duke University Center for Aging, the first research center of its kind in the nation. Now the oldest continuously running aging center in the United States, the Duke Center for Aging has pioneered long-term studies of health problems among the elderly.

R. Wayne Rundles leads the creation of the Southeastern Cancer Chemotherapy Cooperative Study Group and chairs the group for ten years.

Duke University Medical Center’s first open-heart surgery performed by a team led by Drs. Will C. Sealy, Ivan W. Brown, and W. Glenn Young.

Outpatient and PDC plus Hanes and Reed private floors and operating rooms opened.

The School of Medicine and Hospital are renamed "Duke University Medical Center."

Under the leadership of Thelma Ingles, professor and chair of the Development of Medical-Surgical Nursing, Duke develops the Clinical Nursing Specialist program, the first master's of its kind in the United States.

Duke’s signature Physician-Scientist training program is inagurated under the leadership of Drs. Handler, Stead, and Wyngaarden. A forerunner of NIH’s Medical Scientist Training Program, it puts Duke medical students into research experiences for 9 months of their training. 

Duke develops a machine that lowers patients' blood temperatures below 68 degrees Fahrenheit and is the first to place a patient under this deep hypothermia during open-heart surgery.