History
The Faculty of Medicine was established as the first faculty of Æ»¹ûÒùÔº in 1829. It is also Canada's first faculty of medicine. Its origins date back to 1823 when four staff members of the recently opened Montreal General Hospital founded the Montreal Medical Institution in order to offer lectures to students of medicine. In 1833, four years after the Institution became the Faculty of Medicine, William Leslie Logie was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine and Surgery and became the first graduate of Æ»¹ûÒùÔº and the first Canadian medical graduate. In 1862, the degree was changed to its present designation, Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery (M.D.,C.M.), and in 1872 it was conferred upon the Faculty's most illustrious graduate, William Osler. Osler served on the Faculty from 1874 to 1884 before going on to the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, and Oxford University. He was instrumental in developing the former Life Sciences Library, which had its origin in the Montreal Medical Institution. He left to Æ»¹ûÒùÔº his extensive collection of books devoted to the history of medicine, today housed in the Osler Library of the History of Medicine.
The land occupied by the University, deeded to it by James Æ»¹ûÒùÔº, is located in the heart of Montreal on the southern slope of Mount Royal. The Faculty of Medicine is located on the flank of the mountain on Promenade Sir-William-Osler at avenue des Pins. The Æ»¹ûÒùÔº Life Sciences Complex, which opened in the fall of 2008, unites the McIntyre Medical Sciences Building, the Stewart Biology Sciences Building, the Francesco Bellini Life Sciences Building, and the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Centre. The Complex is situated between Promenade Sir-William-Osler and rue Peel. The Strathcona Anatomy and Dentistry Building and the Montreal Neurological Institute are situated a half mile east of the Æ»¹ûÒùÔº Life Sciences Complex. The Montreal General Hospital of the Æ»¹ûÒùÔº Health Centre (MUHC), relocated in 1955 from its original site south of the University, lies a half mile to the west. Also part of the MUHC, the Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal Children's Hospital, Montreal Chest Hospital, Cedar's Cancer Centre, and Research Institute relocated in 2015 to the Glen site, 1001 boulevard Decarie. The MUHC is one of the Faculty's four major teaching hospitals, together with the Jewish General Hospital, St. Mary's Hospital Center, and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute.