Tradition of Innovation

The many firsts at the School of Medicine include:

• Served as a major contributor of genome sequence data to the Human Genome Project
• Developed the first surgical prevention of cancer based on genetic testing – in work on medullary thyroid cancer
• Developed screening tests used worldwide to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease
• Created the first positron emission tomography (PET) scanner, a device that images the brain at work
• Helped pioneer the use of insulin to treat diabetes
• Proposed the now-common practice of taking aspirin to help prevent heart attacks
• Performed the world’s first nerve transplant using nerve tissue from a cadaver donor
• Developed a blood test that quickly and safely identifies whether a patient needs invasive treatment for a heart attack
• Decoded the entire genome of a cancer patient and used the results to alter the course of treatment, which put the cancer into remission
• Demonstrated that severely malnourished children given antibiotics along with a therapeutic peanut-butter based food are far more likely to recover and survive than children who only receive the therapeutic food
• Published the first evidence linking smoking and lung cancer