Brigham and Women's Hospital
Encyclopedia
Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH, "The Brigham") is the largest hospital
of the Longwood Medical and Academic Area
in Boston
, Massachusetts
. It is directly adjacent to Harvard Medical School
of which it is the second largest teaching affiliate
with 793 beds. With Massachusetts General Hospital
, it is one of the two founding members of Partners HealthCare
, the largest healthcare provider in Massachusetts.
, which has 13 separate cancer treatment centers. Generally, outpatient care for cancer and related diseases takes place at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and inpatient care takes place at BWH, with the two facilities connected by bridges. BWH also treats patients at Faulkner Hospital, a community teaching hospital located in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston, and at Brigham and Women's/Mass General Health Care Center at Foxborough, in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
The hospital is a Level I Burn and Trauma Center. A rooftop helipad on the BWH campus accommodates helicopter patients. BWH is part of the consortium of hospitals which operates Boston MedFlight.
Construction was recently completed on the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, which is connected to Brigham and Women's main building with a bridge.
Over the last ten years, BWH has been one of the top two largest non-university recipients of research funding from the National Institutes of Health
. In 2010, the hospital received a total of $555 million in research funding from all sources. The BWH Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), which oversees the hospital's research, has a staff of more than 3,700 researchers, including over 900 principal investigators.
As of 2008, U.S. News & World Report
rankings place BWH overall as the 8th-best hospital in the United States. 2008 marks the 17th consecutive year that BWH has been on U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll (ranked in the top ten overall), making it the only hospital to be on the Honor Roll every year. For the following specialties BWH received rankings in the top 10 by the U.S. News and World Report:
On October 3, 2011 Becker's Hospital Review listed BWH under 70 Hospitals With Great Cardiology Programs.
Some milestones in the history of BWH and its predecessor institutions include the following:
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
of the Longwood Medical and Academic Area
Longwood Medical and Academic Area
The Longwood Medical and Academic Area is a medical campus in Boston....
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. It is directly adjacent to Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
of which it is the second largest teaching affiliate
Teaching hospital
A teaching hospital is a hospital that provides clinical education and training to future and current doctors, nurses, and other health professionals, in addition to delivering medical care to patients...
with 793 beds. With Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital is a teaching hospital and biomedical research facility in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts...
, it is one of the two founding members of Partners HealthCare
Partners HealthCare
Partners HealthCare is a non-profit organization that owns several hospitals in Massachusetts, primarily in the Boston area. Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital founded the organization in 1994...
, the largest healthcare provider in Massachusetts.
Overview
Brigham and Women's is a partner in the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer CenterDana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
The Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center is the largest National Cancer Institute designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the nation. Founded in 1998, DF/HCC is an inter-institutional research enterprise that unites all of the cancer research efforts of the Harvard affiliated community...
, which has 13 separate cancer treatment centers. Generally, outpatient care for cancer and related diseases takes place at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and inpatient care takes place at BWH, with the two facilities connected by bridges. BWH also treats patients at Faulkner Hospital, a community teaching hospital located in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston, and at Brigham and Women's/Mass General Health Care Center at Foxborough, in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
The hospital is a Level I Burn and Trauma Center. A rooftop helipad on the BWH campus accommodates helicopter patients. BWH is part of the consortium of hospitals which operates Boston MedFlight.
Construction was recently completed on the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, which is connected to Brigham and Women's main building with a bridge.
Over the last ten years, BWH has been one of the top two largest non-university recipients of research funding from the National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
. In 2010, the hospital received a total of $555 million in research funding from all sources. The BWH Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), which oversees the hospital's research, has a staff of more than 3,700 researchers, including over 900 principal investigators.
As of 2008, U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
rankings place BWH overall as the 8th-best hospital in the United States. 2008 marks the 17th consecutive year that BWH has been on U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll (ranked in the top ten overall), making it the only hospital to be on the Honor Roll every year. For the following specialties BWH received rankings in the top 10 by the U.S. News and World Report:
- Kidney DiseaseNephrologyNephrology is a branch of internal medicine and pediatrics dealing with the study of the function and diseases of the kidney.-Scope of the specialty:...
(1); - Gynecology (1);
- HeartHeartThe heart is a myogenic muscular organ found in all animals with a circulatory system , that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions...
(5); - RheumatologyRheumatologyRheumatology is a sub-specialty in internal medicine and pediatrics, devoted to diagnosis and therapy of rheumatic diseases. Clinicians who specialize in rheumatology are called rheumatologists...
(7); - EndocrinologyEndocrinologyEndocrinology is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions called hormones, the integration of developmental events such as proliferation, growth, and differentiation and the coordination of...
(8);
On October 3, 2011 Becker's Hospital Review listed BWH under 70 Hospitals With Great Cardiology Programs.
History
Brigham and Women's represents the 1980 merger of three Harvard-affiliated Boston hospitals:- Peter Bent Brigham Hospital established in 1913
- Robert Breck Brigham Hospital established in 1914
- Boston Hospital for Women established in 1966 as a merger of:
- Boston Lying-In Hospital established in 1832 as one of America’s first maternity hospitals
- Free Hospital for Women established in 1875
Some milestones in the history of BWH and its predecessor institutions include the following:
- 1847 AnesthesiaAnesthesiaAnesthesia, or anaesthesia , traditionally meant the condition of having sensation blocked or temporarily taken away...
is administered for the first time in childbirth (Boston Lying-In Hospital) - 1877 Boston restaurateur and investor Peter Bent BrighamPeter Bent BrighamPeter Bent Brigham was a self-made American millionaire businessman, restaurateur, real estate trader, and director of the Fitchburg Railroad...
dies, leaving a $5.3 million bequest to build a hospital 25 years after his death. - 1913 Harvey CushingHarvey CushingHarvey Williams Cushing, M.D. , was an American neurosurgeon and a pioneer of brain surgery, and the first to describe Cushing's syndrome...
is named the surgeon-in-chief at the newly opened Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and remains in this position for two decades; He made several key discoveries relating to neurosurgeryNeurosurgeryNeurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spine, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and extra-cranial cerebrovascular system.-In the United States:In...
and endocrinologyEndocrinologyEndocrinology is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions called hormones, the integration of developmental events such as proliferation, growth, and differentiation and the coordination of...
. - In 1923 Dr. Elliot Cutler of the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital performed the world’s first successful heart valveHeart valveA heart valve normally allows blood flow in only one direction through the heart. The four valves commonly represented in a mammalian heart determine the pathway of blood flow through the heart...
surgery. The patient was a 12-year-old girl with rheumatic mitral stenosisMitral stenosisMitral stenosis is a valvular heart disease characterized by the narrowing of the orifice of the mitral valve of the heart.-Signs and symptoms:Symptoms of mitral stenosis include:...
who underwent mitral valve repairMitral valve repairMitral valve repair is a cardiac surgery procedure performed by cardiac surgeons to treat stenosis or regurgitation of the mitral valve. The mitral valve is the "inflow valve" for the left side of the heart. Blood flows from the lungs, where it picks up oxygen, through the pulmonary veins, to the...
. - 1926 Drs. William MurphyWilliam Murphy-Politics:* William Murphy , Irish Fine Gael TD* William J. Murphy , Irish Labour Party politician* William J. Murphy, U.S. Democratic politician from Idaho...
, George WhippleGeorge WhippleGeorge Hoyt Whipple was an American physician, pathologist, biomedical researcher, and medical school educator and administrator...
and George MinotGeorge MinotGeorge Richards Minot was an American medical researcher who shared the 1934 Nobel Prize with George Hoyt Whipple and William P. Murphy for their pioneering work on pernicious anemia.-Life:...
discover that liver extracts cure pernicious anemiaPernicious anemiaPernicious anemia is one of many types of the larger family of megaloblastic anemias...
, previously a rapidly fatal illness. In 1934, they share the Nobel PrizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
for this work (Peter Bent Brigham Hospital). - 1931 Harvey Cushing performs his 2000th brain tumor operation.
- 1932 Heart surgeon Elliot Cutler succeeds Harvey Cushing as chief of surgery at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital.
- Soma WeissSoma WeissSoma Weiss was born in Beszterce, Transylvania, then part of Hungary. He studied physiology and biochemistry in Budapest. Immediately after the end of World War I, he emigrated to the United States and qualified in medicine in 1923...
was named the physician-in-chief of Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in 1939. He is noted for his discovery of esophageal lacerations with alcoholics, which was later termed as Mallory-Weiss syndromeMallory-Weiss syndromeMallory–Weiss syndrome or gastro-esophageal laceration syndrome refers to bleeding from tears in the mucosa at the junction of the stomach and esophagus, usually caused by severe retching, coughing, or vomiting.-Causes:...
. - 1947 An early form of a kidneyKidneyThe kidneys, organs with several functions, serve essential regulatory roles in most animals, including vertebrates and some invertebrates. They are essential in the urinary system and also serve homeostatic functions such as the regulation of electrolytes, maintenance of acid–base balance, and...
dialysisDialysisIn medicine, dialysis is a process for removing waste and excess water from the blood, and is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney function in people with renal failure...
machine is developed at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. - 1948 Francis MooreFrancis Daniels MooreFrancis Daniels Moore was an American surgeon who was a pioneer in numerous experimental surgical treatments...
succeeds Elliot Cutler as chief of surgery at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. Moore was the author of the textbook The Metabolic Response to Surgery and a pioneer in studying metabolic problems related to surgery. - 1948 Carol Walter pioneers the use of plastic bags in place of breakable glass bottles for blood bankBlood bankA blood bank is a cache or bank of blood or blood components, gathered as a result of blood donation, stored and preserved for later use in blood transfusion. The term "blood bank" typically refers to a division of a hospital laboratory where the storage of blood product occurs and where proper...
storage. - 1949 CortisoneCortisoneCortisone is a steroid hormone. It is one of the main hormones released by the adrenal gland in response to stress. In chemical structure, it is a corticosteroid closely related to corticosterone. It is used to treat a variety of ailments and can be administered intravenously, orally,...
, a steroidSteroidA steroid is a type of organic compound that contains a characteristic arrangement of four cycloalkane rings that are joined to each other. Examples of steroids include the dietary fat cholesterol, the sex hormones estradiol and testosterone, and the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone.The core...
treatment administered for the first time to patients with rheumatoid arthritisRheumatoid arthritisRheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks synovial joints. The process produces an inflammatory response of the synovium secondary to hyperplasia of synovial cells, excess synovial fluid, and the development...
(Robert Breck Brigham Hospital) - 1949 Dr. Carl Walter invents and perfects a way to collect, store and transfuse blood - developing the world’s first blood bankBlood bankA blood bank is a cache or bank of blood or blood components, gathered as a result of blood donation, stored and preserved for later use in blood transfusion. The term "blood bank" typically refers to a division of a hospital laboratory where the storage of blood product occurs and where proper...
(Peter Bent Brigham Hospital). - 1954 The first successful human organ transplantOrgan transplantOrgan transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient's own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or absent organ. The emerging field of regenerative medicine is allowing scientists and engineers to create organs to be...
, a kidney transplanted from one identical twin to another, was accomplished at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. Joseph MurrayJoseph MurrayJoseph Edward Murray is a retired American plastic surgeon. He performed the first successful human kidney transplant on identical twins on December 23, 1954....
, MD, received the Nobel PrizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
in 1990 for this work and the subsequent development of immunosuppressive drugs. J. Hartwell Harrison, M.D.J. Hartwell Harrison, M.D.John Hartwell Harrison was a key member of the pioneer medical team that received the 1961 Amory Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for bringing kidney transplantation to the world....
partnered in the premier transplant. - 1962 DCDirect currentDirect current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...
cardioversionCardioversionCardioversion is a medical procedure by which an abnormally fast heart rate or cardiac arrhythmia is converted to a normal rhythm, using electricity or drugs. Synchronized electrical cardioversion uses a therapeutic dose of electric current to the heart, at a specific moment in the cardiac cycle...
is used for the first time to restore normal rhythmSinus rhythmIn medicine, sinus rhythm is the normal beating of the heart, as measured by an electrocardiogram . It has certain generic features that serve as hallmarks for comparison with normal ECGs.- ECG structure :...
to a heartHeartThe heart is a myogenic muscular organ found in all animals with a circulatory system , that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions...
in atrial fibrillationAtrial fibrillationAtrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia . It is a common cause of irregular heart beat, identified clinically by taking a pulse. Chaotic electrical activity in the two upper chambers of the heart result in the muscle fibrillating , instead of achieving coordinated contraction...
(Peter Bent Brigham Hospital). - 1976 Vascular surgeon John Mannick succeeds Francis MooreFrancis Daniels MooreFrancis Daniels Moore was an American surgeon who was a pioneer in numerous experimental surgical treatments...
as chief of surgery at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. - 1980 The three hospitals merge to form Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
- 1984 The first heart transplant in New England is performed at BWH.
- 1989 Through the Physicians Heart Study is the first to prove aspirin could prevent a first heart attack (BWH).
- 1990 BWH surgeon Joseph MurrayJoseph MurrayJoseph Edward Murray is a retired American plastic surgeon. He performed the first successful human kidney transplant on identical twins on December 23, 1954....
receives the Nobel PrizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
. - 1994 BWH unveils the world's first Intra-Operative Magnetic Resonance ImagingMagnetic resonance imagingMagnetic resonance imaging , nuclear magnetic resonance imaging , or magnetic resonance tomography is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to visualize detailed internal structures...
System for neurosurgeryNeurosurgeryNeurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spine, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and extra-cranial cerebrovascular system.-In the United States:In...
, specifically brain tumorBrain tumorA brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...
craniotomyCraniotomyA craniotomy is a surgical operation in which a bone flap is temporarily removed from the skull to access the brain. Craniotomies are often a critical operation performed on patients recording, brain imaging, and for neurological manipulations such as electrical stimulation and chemical...
. - 1994 Michael Zinner succeeds John Mannick as chief of surgery at BWH.
- 2000 The hospital performs the world's first quadruple transplant, harvesting four organs from a single donor - a kidney, two lungs and a heart - and transplanting them to four patients.
- 2004 BWH becomes the first hospital to implement a complete Electronic Medication Administration System, electronically linking physicians writing prescriptions, pharmacists reviewing orders, and nurses administering them.
- 2006 BWH becomes the first hospital in New England to perform a robotic-assisted radical hysterectomy. In 2007, New England's first robotic-assisted laparoscopic tubal sterilization reversal is performed at BWH.
- 2009 On April 9, 2009, a BWH surgical team, led by MUDr. Bohdan PomahačBohdan PomahačBohdan Pomahač is the plastic surgeon who led the team that performed the first full face transplant in the United States.-Biography:Pomahač's parents were a chemical engineer and a school teacher...
, performed the first partial face transplant in New England, the second in the United States, and the seventh in the world. - 2011 On March 22, a surgical team, led by MUDr. Bohdan PomahačBohdan PomahačBohdan Pomahač is the plastic surgeon who led the team that performed the first full face transplant in the United States.-Biography:Pomahač's parents were a chemical engineer and a school teacher...
, performed the first full face transplant in the United States, and third in the world.