THE NATION'S FIRST

MEDICAL SCHOOL

TURNS 250

To Spread the Light of Knowledge, a full-color, limited-edition book commissioned to celebrate the 250th birthday of the Perelman School of Medicine, chronicles the institution’s fascinating history: from its beginning as a few lectures given in borrowed space to the extensive curriculum, research, and multidisciplinary clinical practice within today's University of Pennsylvania Health System. Its colorful prose and images – including many archival documents, paintings and photographs never previously compiled – track the canon of therapies offered to patients, from the 18th century's handful of primitive and sometimes harmful procedures, such as bloodletting, to today's robotic surgery and gene therapy. This web companion provides a glimpse inside its covers.