It began with a revolutionary vision for medical care and education. Nearly 100 years ago, some of the most progressive minds in Rochester and in the nation—University of Rochester President Rush Rhees, and George Eastman—came together to change the course of medicine. With philanthropic gifts from Eastman, the Rockefeller Foundation, Gertrude Strong Achilles, and Helen Strong Carter, their vision to establish a medical center that would combine scientific inquiry, learning, and patient care was realized.
Today, the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) is the preeminent medical center in Western New York and the region’s only health care facility powered by an academic research center. A cornerstone of the UR Medicine system, Strong Memorial Hospital (Strong), has long served an important function as the safety net hospital for the most vulnerable citizens in our local community, helping anyone who comes through our doors. It is also where state-of-the-art treatments and the newest breakthroughs in medicine are provided first. Because of novel treatments and highly specialized care—particularly in cancer, complex cardiology, comprehensive neurology and neurosurgery, and organ transplants—Strong is becoming a national referral center, caring not only for people in Western New York, but increasingly for those across Upstate New York and the country.
January 1926: Strong Memorial Hospital opens to patients as a 250-bed teaching hospital.
February 1975: The new Strong Memorial Hospital opens as 380 patients are transferred from the 50-year-old hospital to the new facility, many of them children.
June 1996: A seven-story Ambulatory Center, built next to Strong Memorial Hospital’s entrance, included a new outpatient center, lobby, and 1,250-space parking garage. The construction marked a response to a shift in health care from in-hospital procedures to same-day, out-patient procedures.
March 2001: Strong Memorial Hospital’s renovated 55,000 sq. ft. Emergency Department is unveiled as the region’s largest and most modern emergency facility.
May 2008: The Wilmot Cancer Center moved into a new building that opened on May 19, 2008, replacing the 1980 Cancer Center. A four-story vertical expansion was completed in July 2012.
May 2015: Recognized as “the hospital the community built,” the new Golisano Children’s Hospital features all-private rooms and specialized technology, including the first integrated PET/MRI in a children’s hospital in the nation at the time.
February 2023: The UR Medicine Orthopaedic Surgery Center is part of a multi-phase, $227 million construction project to build a comprehensive orthopaedics campus. When complete, the UR Medicine Orthopaedics & Physical Performance Center will be one of the largest and most comprehensive of its kind in the nation.
2027: A 21st-century Strong Memorial Hospital will open. Its design will provide dedicated, private spaces for optimal care and meet the emergency medical needs of our community in a larger, modern facility.