The Medical University of South Carolina has served the citizens of South Carolina since 1824. It has expanded from a small private college for the training of physicians to a state university with a medical center and six colleges for the education of a broad range of health professionals, biomedical scientists and other health related personnel.

College of Medicine

The Medical College of South Carolina was incorporated in December 1823 as a private institution of the Medical Society of South Carolina. The faculty bore full responsibility for the college until 1913 when the state assumed ownership of the school. The Medical College opened in 1824 with a faculty of seven Charleston physicians and 30 students. The first students graduated on April 4, 1825. The institution has served continuously since its founding, except for a four-year cessation during the Civil War. Following the Civil War, the college was reorganized and continued to operate -- at one point with as few as two students. The 1909 Flexner Report noted that there were 34 faculty, all part time, and 213 students whose fees were the only support of the school. To achieve progress, additional financing was clearly necessary. In late 1913 the state legislature was successfully petitioned to transfer ownership of the school to the state. Incorporation of the medical college into the state's higher education system allowed teaching and service roles to expand steadily in the twentieth century.

College of Pharmacy

By faculty resolution, resulting in an amendment to the charter in 1881, the Medical College created a Department of Pharmacy that was, like its mother institution, the first of its kind in the South. The School of Pharmacy was organized in 1882, discontinued after two years, then resumed on a permanent basis in 1894, offering the degree of Graduate in Pharmacy (Ph.G.). The program leading to a degree of Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy was begun in 1936. A Doctor of Pharmacy degree program was begun in 1973, and a Ph.D. program in pharmaceutical sciences was initiated in 1982 (the latter administered through the MUSC College of Graduate Studies in collaboration with the University of South Carolina.

College of Nursing

A two-year training course for nurses was started in 1884 in Roper Hospital. In 1919, the Roper Training School for Nurses was incorporated into the Medical College of South Carolina, expanded to a three-year diploma program. In 1966, the School of Nursing began to phase out the three-year program and established a four-year baccalaureate program leading to the B.S. in Nursing. A nursing master's degree program was begun in 1976. The College of Nursing also offers a B.S.N. degree program for registered nurses at a satellite site at Francis Marion University in Florence, S.C.

College of Graduate Studies

Graduate instruction in the basic sciences was offered for the first time in 1949, with programs in anatomy, chemistry, pathology, pharmacology, and physiology. A program in microbiology was added the following year. The first Master of Science degree was conferred in 1951; the Doctor of Philosophy degree was awarded for the first time in 1952. A Committee on Graduate Studies managed graduate training programs until 1965, when the School of Graduate Studies was formally organized as the fourth branch of the institution (joining Medicine, Pharmacy and Nursing). Graduate programs in biometry were initiated in 1970, molecular and cellular biology and pathobiology in 1978, pharmaceutical sciences in 1982, and environmental sciences in 1994.

College of Dental Medicine

In 1952, the South Carolina Dental Association recommended that a school of dentistry be established as a unit of the Medical College of South Carolina. The state legislature authorized the development of the School of Dental Medicine the following year, but it was not until 1964 that the legislature provided the funds to implement the 1953 authorization. The first students were admitted in 1967, and the first class of 21 students received D.M.D. degrees in June 1971.

College of Health Professions

Three hospital-based training programs (Medical Technology, Cytotechnology, and Radiologic Technology) became the nucleus of a Division of Technical Training, recognized as a separate branch of the Medical College in 1964. The School of Allied Health Sciences, now the College of Health Professions, was formally organized in 1966, and expanded to offer over 20 different training options in the paramedical field. In 1984, lower division certificate and associate degree programs were transferred administratively to Trident Technical College (with the College of Health Profession functioning as the primary clinical affiliate). The college now offers eight baccalaureate and seven master's degree programs. The College of Health Professions also offers degree programs at satellite sites in Greenville, Columbia, and Rock Hill, S.C.

MUSC Medical Center

The Medical College of South Carolina was one of the first medical schools in the United States to establish, in 1834, an infirmary specifically for teaching purposes. In the 1840s the college also entered into agreements for clinical training opportunities at the Poorhouse, the Marine Hospital, and the local "dispensary." In 1856, Roper Hospital was opened, and for 100 years Roper was the Medical College's primary teaching hospital.

The Medical College recognized the need for its own facilities to expand clinical teaching opportunities, as well as to serve as a major referral center in South Carolina for diagnosis and treatment of disease. The ten-story Medical University Hospital accepted its first patients in 1955. In 1985 the name of the hospital and its clinics was changed to MUSC Medical Center, reflecting its function in an academic health institution and its wide range of services to the public. This comprehensive facility is now comprised of three separate hospitals (the University Hospital, the Institute of Psychiatry, and the Children's Hospital). The Medical Center includes centers for specialized care (Heart Center, Transplantation Center, Hollings Cancer Center, Digestive Diseases Center). Numerous outpatient facilities include the Family Medicine Center, University Diagnostic Center, and affiliated faculty practice association ambulatory care centers. In the past ten years, $200 million in capital improvements for the Medical Center focused resources on improved quality of patient care and accessibility of services. In 1993-94 there were over 23,000 inpatient admissions and almost 300,000 outpatient visits. MUSC also manages the Charleston Memorial Hospital adjacent to the campus, providing there a low-risk obstetrical service.

Among the programs which have earned distinguished reputations at the Medical University of South Carolina are: neuroscience, substance abuse, cardiovascular medicine, drug sciences, perinatal medicine, burn care, ophthalmology, hearing loss, genetics, rheumatology, and cancer care.

South Carolina Area Health Education Consortium

One of the most pressing problems in health care delivery and disease prevention across the nation is in the distribution of health professionals. The Medical University serves as the "home" institution for the South Carolina Area Health Education Consortium (AHEC), a statewide consortium of teaching hospitals and rural health education centers. Since 1972 South Carolina AHEC has influenced the education, supply, retention, and geographic distribution of health care professionals statewide, particularly in smaller, underserved communities. South Carolina AHEC programs include undergraduate and graduate level medical education, nursing, allied health, pharmacy and dental education, as well as all family practice residency programs in the state. South Carolina AHEC maintains partnerships between the university and communities across the state, as evidenced by more than 200 full time faculty members and hundreds more part time and consulting faculty who teach in South Carolina AHEC programs in virtually every county of the state.