Duke University Hospital

Duke University Medical Center is a 938-acute care bed academic tertiary care facility located in Durham, North Carolina. Since its establishment in 1930, the hospital has grown from a small regional hospital to a world-renowned academic medical center. Duke University Hospital is the flagship teaching hospital for the Duke University Health System, a network of physicians and hospitals serving Durham County and Wake County, North Carolina, and surrounding areas, as well as one of three Level I referral centers for the Research Triangle of North Carolina .History1924–1935: early yearsThe institution traces its roots back to 1924, six years before the opening of the hospital, when James Buchanan Duke established the Duke Endowment to transform Duke University (then known as Trinity College) into the research university it is today. In 1925, Duke bequeathed $4 million to establish the medical school, nursing school, and hospital. Two years later, in 1927, construction began on the original hospital (now known as Duke South), which opened on July 21, 1930, with 400 beds. In 1931, the hospital and medical school were officially dedicated on April 20 and the Private Diagnostic Clinic (Duke's in-house physician system) was organized on September 16. In 1935, less than five years after the hospital opened, the American Medical Association ranked Duke among the top 20 of medical schools in the country.