University of California opens its first medical school in San Francisco

Background. Hugh Toland, a South Carolina surgeon who moved to San Francisco in 1852, founded Toland Medical College in 1864. Faculty from the Cooper Medical College, which had suspended operations following its founder's death, joined this new institution. Section 8 of the Organic Act authorized the Board of Regents to affiliate independent professional colleges with the University of California.

Affiliation Negotiations. Toland Medical School began negotiating affiliation with the University of California in 1870. The process was complicated by Toland's demand that the school retain his name, a condition he eventually conceded. Some faculty members chose to reopen the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific instead, which later became Stanford University School of Medicine.

Establishment of the Medical Department. In March 1873, the trustees of Toland Medical College transferred the institution to the Regents of the University of California, and it became The Medical Department of the University of California. The Pharmacy College was affiliated in June 1873, and together the two colleges came to be known as the "Affiliated Colleges".