Lahey Clinic - History

History

When Frank Howard Lahey founded a group practice in 1923 with renowned gastroenterologist Sara Jordan, M.D., and anesthesiologist Lincoln Fleetford Sise, M.D., his plan was to create a clinic where many specialties would coexist under one roof. This idea became the Lahey Clinic and it was built at 605 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, where it would remain for another fifty-five years. (Its former building now houses the BU School of Education.)

Lahey's original team—gastroenterologist Sara Jordan, anesthesiologist Lincoln Sise, operating nurse Blanche Wallace, surgical assistant Howard Clute—were pioneers in their fields.

Physicians saw only outpatients at Lahey Clinic in the early years. In fact, much of the day was spent traveling between the New England Baptist Hospital, New England Deaconess, and Peter Bent Brigham hospitals to perform surgeries and visit inpatients.

Medical centers were not common in the United States in the 1920s. If there were problems that the family doctor could not handle, the patient would be referred to a specialist or transported to a hospital. Lahey's team was often called out to outlying Greater Boston towns for emergencies—to towns and cities in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.

By the 1930s and 1940s, the clinic was known worldwide for its phenomenal surgical outcomes, and state-of-the-art treatment of thyroid, gastrointestinal, and gall bladder disorders. In 1940, an article was written in Time Magazine describing the clinic's history and Dr. Lahey's election as the new president of the American Medical Association.

The reputation that Lahey Clinic has for innovative technology, pioneer medical treatment, and cutting-edge research was built upon Dr. Lahey's belief that the group practice also should be a center for research and learning. From the beginning, the clinic offered residents and fellows a chance to polish their skills under the careful supervision of some of the nation's leading physicians.

By the time the clinic moved eleven miles (18 km) northwest to its current location in Burlington in November 1980, the practice had expanded to include services offered by more than thirty departments. Many of these departments had begun with single physicians who worked to promote their specialty. The Gastroenterology and Anesthesiology Departments, in particular, arose from the practices of Jordan and Sise, who in the 1920s were among the first physicians in the United States to specialize in these growing fields.