Deep roots in educating diverse health leaders.

Sharing Common Commitments and Visions for More Than a Century

More than 100 years ago, a group of physicians in Chicago came together around a common vision: creating a medical school that would help open the profession to more people, including women, African Americans and the working class. The Chicago Hospital-College of Medicine (later the Chicago Medical School) opened its doors in 1912.

In another part of the city that same year, Dr. William M. Scholl formed the team that founded the Illinois College of Chiropody and Orthopedics. Like the Chicago Hospital-College of Medicine, it was open and egalitarian; both schools rejected the limiting racial and ethnic quotas implemented by other schools and colleges at the time.

Six Colleges Joined Together in a Single Purpose

Today, both colleges — along with the College of Health Professions (1970), the College of Nursing (2021), the College of Pharmacy (2011) and the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (1968) — are part of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in North Chicago. We’re a cohesive learning institution, bringing together more than 30 graduate-level healthcare and biomedical science programs around a single purpose: improving the health and well-being of all.

Our long history of advocating for diversity and inclusion has continued to shape the university in a variety of ways today, from the diverse nature of our community to the many student organizations that support and celebrate that diversity. In 2004, the renaming of the university in honor of Dr. Rosalind Franklin made us the first medical institution in the United States to recognize a female scientist through an honorary namesake.

Interprofessional, Global and Innovative in a Changing Field

In 2013, the DeWitt C. Baldwin Institute for Interprofessional Education was established at RFU. That same year, four Chicago Medical School students also initiated the Interprofessional Community Clinic that serves uninsured residents from our local communities. These approaches to providing care demonstrate the heart of who we are today: an institution focused on preparing collaborative teams of health providers to care for increasingly diverse populations.

As we look ahead, our singular focus on improving the health of the population, our outstanding facilities and faculty, and our interprofessional approach allow us to be agile and innovative, successfully preparing students to step into a rapidly changing field and lead the way.