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History and Achievements

Trouble and Triumph (1965-1972)

Completed Medical Center

The goal of having a unified medical school and teaching hospital was realized in 1965 with the opening of the seven-story, 500,000 square-foot U Medical Center.
 
Moving patients to the new hospital

Members of the U.S. Army National Guard and Air Guard helped move patients from Salt Lake County General Hospital to the new medical center.

 Transfer of Patients

Police-escorted county ambulances moved patients from the old Salt Lake County General Hospital to the new medical center.
 
Prepping for a kidney transplant

More than 800 kidney transplants have been performed by University physicians since the first operation on January 25, 1965, at Salt Lake County General Hospital

 Newborn Intensive Care Unit

August L. Jung, M.D., left, was instrumental in establishing the medical center's newborn intensive care unit in 1968. Sen. Frank E. Moss, D-Utah, visited the site in 1971.
 
First artificial kidney

The world's first artifical kidney was developed by Willem J Kolff, M.D., Ph.D., distinguished professor of surgery and internal medicine. He continued work on the kidney after coming to Utah, and his work on the artificial heart led, in 1982, to the first permanent implantation in a human.