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Vital Signs

Then & Now

A reminder of the pace of change, and of timeless truths, from the 1976 MHMH annual report:

"Ground was broken last fall for a two-story addition to the Norris Cotton Cancer Center. Total project cost is $5.3 million, of which $1.3 million is allocated for the support of cancer-related research activity. . . . When completed in early 1977, the Norris Cotton Cancer Center will bring together multidisciplinary resources related to patient care, teaching, and research in . . . cancer."

$40 million
Cost of the Cancer Center's most recent addition, completed in 2003

200,000
Current square footage of the Cancer Center

$58 million
External funding in FY06 for Cancer Center research


A reminder of the pace of change, and of timeless truths, from a 1973 case statement for a three-year, $20-million DMS capital campaign:

"During the past two decades, cracks and strains in the health-care system became increasingly apparent to the American public. Although superb medical care—perhaps the best in the world—was available for the acutely ill in major medical centers, vast areas of the country had few or no primary medical services at all, particularly rural communities and inner cities. . . . Dartmouth's location . . . presents it with a unique opportunity to explore effective systems for providing up-to-date, comprehensive medical care to a rural area."

$250 million
Goal of the current seven-year (2002-2009) DMS-DHMC Transforming Medicine Campaign


A reminder of the pace of change, and of timeless truths, from The Science We Have Loved and Taught, a 200-year history of DMS:

Becoming a doctor is an arduous process today. It was very different in the 1780s for young Nathan Smith, who went on to found DMS in 1797: "An itinerant surgeon, Josiah Goodhue, arrived in town to perform an amputation. . . . Goodhue [later recollected] how Smith stepped forward when the surgeon called for a volunteer to assist him [and then], apparently overcome with fascination, . . . asked on the spot whether Goodhue would let him sign on as an apprentice."

4,620
Applicants for the 82 places in DMS's M.D. Class of '10

3.7
Average undergraduate GPA of the matriculants


A reminder of the pace of change, and of timeless truths, from the Fall 1986 issue of this magazine:

"More than 200 bicyclists braved an all-day rain [in] July to raise over $40,000 for the Norris Cotton Cancer Center in the fifth annual Audrey Prouty Memorial Century Ride. . . . The first ride was held in 1982, when four DHMC nurses fulfilled a promise to a former cancer patient . . . and raised $2,000 for the Cancer Center." On July 8, 2006, the 25th Prouty Ride and Walk—held on a perfect, sunny summer day—smashed the previous 24 years' records.

2,790
Prouty participants in 2006

123,459
Number of miles they rode or walked

$1.24 million
Total raised in 2006


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Dartmouth Medical SchoolDartmouth-Hitchcock Medical CenterWhite River Junction VAMCNorris Cotton Cancer CenterDartmouth College