This year marks Dartmouth Medical School's bicentennary -- a celebration that began with Convocation exercises Tuseday and will end next September with a bicentennial symposium.
In 1797, Dr. Nathan Smith founded the Dartmouth Medical School, the fourth oldest medical school in the nation.
Tuesday's Convocation address by Dr. Samuel Thier, president and CEO of the Massachusetts General Hospital and CEO of Partners HealthCare System, kicked off the year's events.
Dartmouth Medical School's Class Day and Commencement in June 1997 will be the second major event.
The final event, the bicentennial symposium, "Great Issues for Medicine in the 21st Century," will be open to the public.
Hali Wickner, the public relations director for the Dartmouth Medical School, said the purpose of the symposium is to "bring some of the world's foremost scientists here to discuss issues.''
Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein, two Nobel laureates, are co-chairing the symposium.
During the three days of the symposium, international scientists, scholars and public policy leaders will explore ethical and moral issues arising from recent developments in the biomedical sciences.
The four main issues that the participants at the symposium will discuss are genetics, health care, world population and neuroscience. Throughout the upcoming year, each medical school department will also hold discussions and seminars, during which various speakers will visit the medical school to give lectures.
Wickner said the goal of the entire year's events is to honor Dartmouth Medical School's rich history.
Smith also founded the Medical School, along with medical schools at Yale, Bowdoin College and the University of Vermont.
"He was an energetic man," she said.
During the early years of the medical school's existence, Smith was the sole medical lecturer on campus. His lectures were open to undergraduates, and Daniel Webster attended his chemistry lectures in 1800.
"It was in a backwoods environment," Wickner said. "The medical school's opening was the beginning of a strong community service tradition."
Oliver Wendell Holmes was another of the medical school's early notable instructors.
In conjunction with the medical school's bicentennial year, a biography of Smith and a history of the school's first 200 years will be published.
Sabra Field, a renowned Vermont artist, designed a poster to commemorate the bicentennial celebration.
There will be numerous art exhibits throughout the year at the Hood Museum of Art, Baker Library and Dana Library. There are currently exhibits about the bicentennial in Baker's main collection as well as in Dana Library.
In addition, the Dartmouth Film Society will hold a film series dedicated to biomedicine.
