History part II

(1939 - present)

In 1948, the School of Medicine suffered a setback in its institutional history. That year, a fire consumed the building where it was operating and destroyed a great number of important medical and biological research material. The reconstruction started during the government of Carlos Ibáñez del Campo and under Alejandro Garretón and Hernán Alessandri's deanship, after securing the approval of special laws in order to obtain the required funds. It was under Juvenal Hernández' rectorship that the reconstruction project of a new school was approved. Juan Martínez was the architect in charge of the project.

Two series of events took place that would determine the school's leadership throughout the entire twentieth century: the configuration of the school's clinical fields and the political and social changes occurring in the 1960's and 1970's. It is also during those years that the School of Medical Technology was founded (1960). Three years later, the Universidad de Chile's School of Occupational Therapy was created.

University reform

The year 1968 was the beginning of a substantial university reform resulting from worldwide social movements aiming at greater participation in the institutional decision-making processes. These movements sought to democratize university administration and obtain training for more health care professionals in Chile, increasing teaching within hospitals and integrating regional institutions in the development of medicine, teaching and practice (Valparaíso, Temuco, Valdivia, etc.). In addition, old Chairs were transformed in departments, which meant a significant change with respect to the culture and academic management of the School.

Even though the School of Kinesitherapy (nowadays known as the School of Kinesiology) has its origins in 1956, it really became part of the School of Medicine in 1972, the same year that saw the foundation of the School of Speech Therapy.

Within the school, 1972 was also marked by the consolidation of a reform whose aim was to organize four administrative branches: Roberto del Río and José Joaquín Aguirre hospitals for Santiago Norte; Del Salvador and Calvo Mackenna hospitals for Santiago Oriente; San Juan de Dios and Félix Bulnes hospitals for Santiago Occidente; Barros Luco, San Borja Arriarán and Gonzáles Cortés hospitals for Santiago Centro-Sur. Finally, the Universidad de Chile's School of Medicine had a branch in Valparaíso, responsible for managing the clinical fields of the following hospitals: Deformes, Van Büren and Gustavo Fricke.

After the military coup of 1973, the previous administrative structure was dismantled and replaced by a new national institutional scheme for higher education, adjusted to a social and economic neoliberal model. The school was later reunified in 1981 and currently maintains five clinical fields (North - Universidad de Chile's Clinical Hospital; South, Centre, East and West with their respective public hospitals and community health centres belonging to a particular network) as a basis for clinical teaching aimed at students from the first to the seventh year in the program.