Chartered in 1886 as the Western Pennsylvania Medical College, a free-standing school formed by local physicians, the School of Medicine sought university affiliation even in the early years of operations. In 1891 the School became affiliated with the Western University of Pennsylvania and, two decades later, was integrated into the newly designated University of Pittsburgh. Abraham Flexner, a renowned educator, published his first report, Medical Education in the U.S. and Canada, in 1910 after he had visited 155 medical schools, including the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The Flexner Report, in effect, removed medical education from the apprenticeship era and laid the foundations for the integrated academic basic science and clinical curricula of today.
