Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is a level 1 trauma center and teaching hospital located in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. is the flagship hospital of Jefferson Health, a multi-state non-profit health system based in Philadelphia. The hospital serves as the teaching hospital for Thomas Jefferson University. With 937 licensed beds and 63 operating rooms, it is the second-largest hospital in Pennsylvania as of 2018.
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History
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital was founded in 1825 as the Infirmary of the Jefferson Medical College, the predecessor of the Hospital of Jefferson Medical College. Thomas Jefferson University Hospital serves patients in Philadelphia, the nation's sixth-largest city, and the city's surrounding regions in Delaware, South Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals system has 937 licensed acute care beds. Services are provided at five locations: the main hospital facility and Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience, both in Center City Philadelphia, Methodist Hospital in South Philadelphia, Jefferson Hospital at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, also in South Philadelphia, and Jefferson-Voorhees Hospital in Voorhees, New Jersey.
Timeline
1826: Franklin Bache, a professor of chemistry at Thomas Jefferson University, became the first researcher in the United States to conduct organized studies using acupuncture therapy.
1868: Jacob da Silva Solis-Cohen performed the first successful laryngotomy for vocal cord cancer. A laryngotomy is a procedure that involves cutting into the larynx in order to assist respiration when the upper part of the airway has been restricted.
1881: William Thomson invented a standard test for color blindness.
1953: John H. Gibbon Jr. conceived and developed the world's first successful heart-lung machine, a device that temporarily takes over the function of the heart and lungs during surgery. He also performed multiple open heart surgeries which revolutionized heart surgery in the 20th century.
1957: George J. Haupt invented the Jefferson Ventilator while serving as a resident at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Haupt developed and patented the mechanical ventilator used during surgeries to inflate the patient's lungs and discharge carbon dioxide accumulated in the blood because the patient could not exhale.
1965: Barry B. Goldberg, a professor of radiology at Jefferson Medical College, was deemed a pioneer in ultrasound technology. Ultrasound imaging is a technique that enables the viewing of several body structures including tendons, muscles, joints, and internal organs.
1972: Norman Lasker, a professor of medicine at Jefferson Medical College, invented the Jefferson Cycler—the first at-home self-treatment device for kidney dialysis patients. Dialysis is the process of removing waste and excess water from the blood and is used as an artificial replacement for lost kidney function.
1982: Charles Klieman developed the modern surgical stapler and the first articulating laparoscopic instrument in 1986. These are scissors that allow surgeons to choose an extremely precise angle of cut.
Awards and recognition
2009: Jefferson University Hospital was granted MAGNET recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center's (ANCC). In 2018, Jefferson was recognized for the third time with this honor.
2017–2018: U.S. News & World Report ranked Thomas Jefferson University Hospital as the 16th-best hospital in the country. Jefferson was nationally ranked in 11 specialties, placing second-best in the nation in ophthalmology, fourth-best in orthopedics, eighth-best in ear, nose and throat, 17th-best in gastroenterology and GI surgery, 20th-best in cancer, 21st-best in neurology and neurosurgery, 26th-best in diabetes and endocrinology, 27th-best in urology, 38th-best in geriatrics, 41st-best in cardiology and heart surgery, and 48th-best in nephrology.
2022-2023: U.S. News & World Report ranked Thomas Jefferson University Hospital as the 3rd-best hospital in Pennsylvania and the 2nd-best hospital in Philadelphia.
Notable births, hospitalizations, and deaths
Hospitalizations
Mumia Abu-Jamal (1981)
Beau Biden (2010)
Darren Daulton (2013)
Michael Irvin (1999)
Zero Mostel (1977)
Adam Taliaferro (2000)
Deaths
Pearl Bailey, August 17, 1990
Edward Walter Clark Jr., April 4, 1946
William Guarnere, March 8, 2014
Parady La, January 9, 2026
Howard Lanin, April 26, 1991
Jack Meyer, March 6, 1967
J. Whyatt Mondesire, October 4, 2015
David Montgomery, December 2, 2011
Nizah Morris, December 24, 2002
George Franklin Pawling, December 2, 1954
Frank Rizzo, July 16, 1991
Morton Witkin, April 20, 1973
John Vukovich, March 8, 2007
Jay Waldman, May 30, 2003