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The University of Oregon Medical School was granted its charter in 1887 by the Board of Regents of the University. In 1913, the medical department of Willamette University merged with the UO Medical School. The school was located in Portland, Oregon.

Professional courses in nursing were offered for the first time in the summer session of 1919. Courses were located in Portland in cooperation with the Northwest Division of the American Red Cross Home Service Department, the Portland Visiting Nurse Association, the Welfare Bureau, and the Oregon Tuberculosis Association. A standard course of study in public health nursing was established in the fall of 1920 as a part of the program of the Portland Division of the UO School of Sociology; this division was known as the Portland School of Social Work.

In 1926 the University introduced a five-year curriculum in nursing leading to a bachelor's degree. As a part of the reorganization of the Oregon State System of Higher Education in 1932, the Portland School of Social Work was discontinued and the program in nursing was transferred to the Medical School and established in a Department of Nursing Education. The nursing program became the School of Nursing in 1960.

The North Pacific Dental College and The Oregon College of Dentistry merged under the name, North Pacific College of Oregon in 1900. It existed as a private institution until 1945 when the Oregon Legislature accepted the property of the College and incorporated it into the Oregon State System of Higher Education as the University of Oregon Dental School.

The Multnomah Hospital was constructed in 1923 and it served as one of the teaching units of the Medical School.

E. M. Doernbecher and Ada Doernbecher gifted the University of Oregon with 200,000 to create the Doernbecher Children's Hospital, which opened in 1926 as a part of the Medical School.

The outpatient clinic was built in 1931.

The University State Tuberculosis Hospital began admitting patients in 1939 and was staffed by faculty members of the Medical School.

The Library and the 600-seat Auditorium building was built in 1939. The Laboratory and Administration building was completed in 1949. The University of Oregon Medical School Hospital was completed in 1955 and the UO Dental School Building was completed in 1956.

The new Dental School building and the new University of Oregon Medical School Hospital opened in 1956.

In November of 1974, the UO Medical School, School of Nursing and Dental School, were reorganized as the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center, by action of the State Board of Higher Education, as an independent school operating under the State Board.

In 1981 the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center was renamed Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) and became an autonomous university under the Oregon University System and no longer a part of the University of Oregon. In 1995, OHSU became a private corporation and no longer a school within the Oregon University System.

For more information about the history of the Medical, Nursing and Dental schools, the relationship with the University of Oregon, as well as the numerous programs, buildings, and locations of the schools, see the catalogs and alumni books within the collection, and historical material within the University Archives Reference Collections:

University Archives alphabetical subject files, UA Ref 1; University Archives alphabetical subject single files, UA Ref 6; University Archives publications, UA Ref 4; University Archives photographs, UA Ref 3.