University of Tennessee College of Medicine

The University of Tennessee College of Medicine is one of six graduate schools of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) in downtown Memphis. The oldest public medical school in Tennessee, the UT College of Medicine is a LCME-accredited member of the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) and awards graduates of the four-year program Doctor of Medicine (MD) degrees. The college's primary focus is to provide practicing health professionals for the state of Tennessee.HistoryThe University of Tennessee College of Medicine originated in 1850, but involves several institutional mergers. The first was when the Nashville Medical College, founded in 1876, was acquired by the University of Tennessee in 1879. The modern era of the college began when the Nashville Medical College was moved to Memphis in 1911 and merged with the College of Physicians and Surgeons to become the University of Tennessee College of Medicine. Following a number of mergers with the other medical science colleges, nursing, and dental departments, the then-named University of Tennessee Medical Units was renamed the University of Tennessee Health Science Center during the tenure of Dr. Edmund Pellegrino.