Save the Date

History of USU

40th Anniversary Celebration

Sept. 20-22, 2012
 
Festivities will include:

  • day-long campus events (Sept. 21)
  • and alumni activities (Sept. 22).

1972 - Congress passes the Health Professions Revitalization Act of 1972 (Public Law 92-426;86 STAT.713) that establishes the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences after years of effort by Louisiana Congressman F. Edward Hébert.

1973 - The first Board of Regents members are appointed. The board meets for the first time on May 31. The location for the university -- on the grounds of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. -- is selected.

1974 - Anthony R. Curreri, M.D., is sworn in as the first president of USU on January 7.

1975 - Administrative offices are established over Peoples Drug Store on Arlington Road in downtown Bethesda. Jay P. Sanford, M.D., the founding dean of the school of medicine arrives in March, and a groundbreaking ceremony is held on July 10.

1976 - The first academic department chairs are confirmed in March. The first medical school class of 32 students begins study at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C., in October. David Packard is named as acting president.

1977 - Construction on the first permanent building (Building A) is completed and accepted in August. Classes move to USU campus.

1979 - The remainder of the permanent buildings on the USU campus are completed.

1980 - The first Combat Casualty Care Course (C-4) is held in April at Camp Bullis in San Antonio, Texas. It later leads to the establishment of Operations Bushmaster and Kerkesner. The charter medical school class graduates 29 students in May on the USU campus.

1981 - Stephen Huot is the first basic science graduate program student to be awarded a Ph.D. (in Physiology). Dr. Sanford is appointed as president of USU.

1983 - Congress designates the School of Medicine the "F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine" in honor of the late Louisiana Congressman who was responsible for USU's creation. The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine is established by Congress to support the university's teaching and research programs.

19870 - President Ronald W. Reagan delivers the commencement address to USU's graduating class on Armed Forces Day, May 13, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

1988 - Col. Thomas Koroscil, U.S. Air Force, becomes the first alumnus to serve on the Presidential medical team at the White House under President George Bush.

1990 - Dr. Sanford resigns as president and dean of USU on November 16. Deputy Dean and former psychiatry department Chair Harry C. Holloway, M.D., serves as interim dean.

1991 - Former Navy Surgeon General and retired Vice Admiral James A. Zimble, M.D., is selected as president, USU. More than 100 USU alumni serve in Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Class of '86 alumna, Maj. Rhonda Cornum, is injured in helicopter crash and taken prisoner-of-war in Iraq. She is released a week later.

1992 - Nancy E. Gary, M.D., is named as dean, F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine.

1993 - The Graduate School of Nursing is established. Former Deputy Surgeon General of the U.S. and retired Rear Admiral, U.S. Public Health Service, Faye G. Abdellah, Ed.D., Sc.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., is appointed acting dean of the GSN Three students enter family nurse practitioner program.

1994 - The GSN adds a Master of Science in Nursing degree program in anesthesia nursing. Eight students enter the program. 1995 - The first two family nurse practitioner students graduate from the GSN. Medical school Dean Nancy Gary resigns.

1995 - Dr. Sanford dies. A memorial service is held on the USU campus. Dr. Abdellah named as dean, GSN. Val G. Hemming, M.D., pediatrics department chair, selected as new dean of the School of Medicine. First class of nurse anesthetists graduates. First second-generation USU student, Ensign Nathaniel Almond, enters medical school. He is the son of '81 graduate, Navy Capt. Myron Almond.

1998 - Twenty-six graduate, through a tele-commencement exercise, as the first nursing students to complete the VA/DoD Distance Learning Program on May 18.

2000 - The state-of-the-art National Capital Area Medical Simulation Center officially opens its doors with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in April. Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen bestows the Joint Meritorious Unit Award on USU on Dec. 11. White House physician and Naval officer E. Connie Mariano is promoted to rear admiral - the first USU alumnus to reach flag rank.

2001 - USU alumni and faculty play key medical response roles in the aftermath of the terrorist bombings on Sept. 11 and anthrax attacks in October.

2002 - USU researchers Ignacio Provencio, Ph.D., and Mark D. Rollag, Ph.D., are lauded by the prestigious journal, Science, for their discovery of an optical photoreceptive net, which was named by the magazine as one of the top 10 scientific breakthroughs of 2002. Dr. Hemming steps down as dean. Larry W. Laughlin, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the USU Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, is selected for the position. Dr. Abdellah retires as dean of the Graduate School of Nursing and is replaced by Patricia Hinton Walker, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N.

2003 - USU medical and nursing alumni are called to serve in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. U.S. News & World Report ranks USU's community health program as sixth in the nation. GSN establishes a Master of Science in Nursing degree for Perioperative Clinical Nurse Specialists and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Nursing Science.

2004 - USU holds its 25th commencement exercise on May 15 at the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. More than 3,586 medical diplomas, 833 basic science doctoral and master's degrees, and 231 nursing degrees have been awarded to date. Maj. Christopher Lange, an Army psychiatrist, is injured in a mortar attack in Iraq and becomes the second USU alumnus ever to be injured in combat. Field training exercise, Operation Kerkesner, is moved to Fort Indiantown Gap, Pa. President Zimble retires in August and a nationwide search is conducted for a successor.

2005 – Charles L. Rice, M.D., former Vice Chancellor for Health at the University of Illinois, Chicago, is sworn in as USU’s fifth president.

2006 – The Center for Deployment Psychology is established at USU to train military and civilian behavioral health professionals to provide deployment-related services to military personnel and their families. USU undergoes a branding initiative; a new logo is created.

2007 – Christopher Broder, Ph.D., professor of Microbiology and Immunology and program director for the Emerging Infectious Diseases Graduate Program at USU, ranks high (11th) among the top 100 most cited scientists in the field of microbiology by In-Cites.com. USU's Nurse Anesthesia program is ranked sixth in the nation according to U.S. News & World Report.

2008 – "Fighting for Life," a documentary from academy-award winner director Terry Sanders about USU and the challenges of military medicine opens in theaters nationwide. The first class of Adult Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner students matriculate in the summer. The GSN opens the Dr. Faye Glenn Abdellah Research Center. Ada Sue Hinshaw, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, becomes the new dean of the Graduate School of Nursing.

2009 – USU's Southern Region office opens in San Antonio under the leadership of retired Army Major General Patrick Sculley, D.D.S., M.A., as senior vice president. Robert Ursano, M.D., professor and chair of USU's Department of Psychiatry, leads the largest study of suicide and mental health among military personnel ever undertaken, with $50 million in funding from the U.S. Army. The Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute receives the American Nuclear Society Nuclear Historic Landmark Award.

2010 –The Postgraduate Dental College (PGDC) is established at USU, which includes Navy and Air Force postgraduate dental schools. The Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute celebrates its 50th anniversary.

2011 – Dr. Patrick Sculley is named executive dean of USU's PGDC. The Army Postgraduate Dental School joins USU's PGDC. The School of Medicine undergoes a major curriculum reform. USU alumnus, retired Navy Captain Peter Rhee leads the trauma team that saved the life of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, after she was shot in the head outside a crowded Tucson grocery store. He calls USU alumnus James Ecklund, M.D., and USU interim chair of Neurology Col. Geoffrey Ling, to Arizona as consultants for the case. Ada Sue Hinshaw, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, dean of the GSN, was named a "Living Legend" by the American Academy of Nursing. Army Lt.Col. David E. Cabrera, a social worker in USU's Department of Family Medicine, is killed in the line of duty while deployed to Afghanistan – USU's first combat death.

2012 – USU's Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress celebrates its 25th anniversary and USU's Center for Prostate Disease Research observes its 20th anniversary. USU's first PGDC class graduates. Founding Dean of USU's Graduate School of Nursing, Dr. Faye Abdellah, is inducted into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame in June.