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 History of Severance Medical School |
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In 1885, King Gojong of the Chosun Dynasty requested Dr. H. N. Allen, an American Northern Presbyterian missionary who volunteered as a royal family doctor, to establish a hospital named Jejungwon in Gurigae. On March 29, 1886, sixteen students were selected and the school was opened. This marked not only the birth of Yonsei University, but also the starting point of modern medical education in Korea, and the hospital became one of the forerunners of modern medicine in Asia. Later, Dr. O. R. Avison, a professor at the University of Toronto Medical School, became the head of Jejungwon, and through a donation from Mr. L. H. Severance, the hospital was reconstructed and the medical education institution was finalized. They respectively became Severance Hospital and Severance Medical School. The first seven graduates in 1908 received the first doctors’ licenses issued by the Korean government.
In 1917, the school developed into Severance Union Medical College; however, in 1942, under pressure from Japan, the school name was changed to Asahi Medical College until Korea’s independence in August 1945.
In 1947, the school obtained permission from the Ministry of Culture and Education to establish a six-year long course program at Severance Medical College. During the Korean War, a humanitarian aid hospital was established to provide medical services for refugees and the injured.
Meanwhile, in September 1906, Miss Esther L. Shields established a nursing school within Severance Hospital as a professional institute to train outstanding nurses. The school produced the first nurses in Korea in 1910. In 1968, the school was elevated to the College of Nursing. |
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| History |
 Severance Medical College
Established: 1885
Founder: O. R. Avison |
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