A legacy of more than 200 years.
The beginning of UofL Health: The first hospital in Kentucky, UofL Health – UofL Hospital 1823
UofL Health is an academic medical health system established in November 2019 with the acquisition of the former KentuckyOne/Catholic Health Initiatives Louisville assets by University Medical Center. Based in Louisville, Kentucky, UofL Health was built on a 200-year history when it’s original hospital, the Louisville Marine Hospital, started in 1823.
The Louisville Marine Hospital, the first hospital in Kentucky, was created to help the sick and injured crew members who were abandoned in Louisville on their way down the Ohio River. The Falls of the Ohio led crews to stop in Louisville, forcing some off the boats with no home, no family and no options for health care. It was renamed Louisville City Hospital in 1836 and became the teaching hospital for the Louisville Medical Institute (eventually the UofL School of Medicine, the ninth oldest medical school in the United States), which opened in 1837.
In 1911, the hospital housed the WORLD’s first emergency room, and in the 1930s surgeon Arnold Griswold developed autotransfusion the process of receiving your own blood in as transfusion versus using a donor’s. In 1942, it was renamed Louisville General Hospital and in 1983 opened in a new facility as University Hospital, which later became UofL Hospital.
The hospital was named the first Joint Commission certified Comprehensive Stroke Center in Kentucky and is the region’s only Level I Trauma Center. It is the fifth largest hospital in the region. Learn more about UofL Hospital’s history at UofLHealth.org/200.
UofL Health – Mary & Elizabeth Hospital serving the south Louisville community 1874
Founded by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in 1874, UofL Health – Mary & Elizabeth Hospital is dedicated to the well-being of the whole person—body, mind and spirit. Serving the south Louisville community Mary & Elizabeth Hospital has cared for generations of families offering advanced treatment in vascular, orthopedic, cardiac, medical imaging, surgical and emergency services, a wound healing center, sleep disorders center and has three medical plazas on campus to provide office space for a wide array of physicians representing a number of specialties.
The history continues with UofL Health – Jewish Hospital 1905
To continue the rich history, UofL Health – Jewish Hospital opened in 1905 with a mission to provide a hospital that treated the medical needs of both the Jewish community and all patients no matter their religious or social-economic background, with the highest quality care and a strong emphasis on research and education. Today, Jewish Hospital is a 462-bed, internationally renowned, high-tech tertiary referral center located in downtown Louisville, developing leading-edge advancements in a vast number of specialties and services.
Many of the hospital’s clinical programs have achieved national rankings for excellence. Noted for numerous medical firsts in Kentucky, the nation and the world, Jewish Hospital is the site of the nation's first four hand transplants and the world's first and second successful AbioCor™ Implantable Replacement Heart transplant. The hospital is federally designated to perform all five solid organ transplants - heart, lung, liver, kidney and pancreas.
UofL Health – Shelbyville Hospital 1906
Founded in 1906 by the King’s Daughters & Sons Organization, the UofL Health – Shelbyville Hospital was originally located on Henry Clay Street in downtown Shelbyville. In 1954, the community opened a new facility in what was then the “far western” part of Shelby County, offering growth in space and new services.
Shelbyville Hospital has provided comprehensive, high-quality services to the people of Shelby, Henry and Spencer counties. Located just 30 minutes east of downtown Louisville, the 42-private bed community hospital provides a full range of comprehensive services including 24/7 emergency care, critical care, state of the art diagnostic imaging, cardiac & pulmonary rehabilitation, general and specialized surgery, physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech language pathology, pain management, sleep medicine and wound care.
UofL Health – Peace Hospital caring for the mind and spirit 1951
UofL Health – Peace Hospital is a private, not-for-profit behavioral health care hospital. Founded in 1951 by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, the 261-bed hospital is one of the largest psychiatric facilities in the nation providing care for children, adolescents and adults.
The Kosair Charities Children’s Peace Center is the largest and most comprehensive private provider of youth inpatient behavioral health services in the country. Peace Hospital operates a full continuum of behavioral health and substance use services for patients. Specialty programs for children and adolescents who have complex treatment needs, such as intellectual or developmental disabilities, forensic issues for females and/or co-occurring substance use issues are also offered.
UofL Health – Frazier Rehabilitation Institute a hospital built on the passion of an Advocate 1951
In 1950, Amelia Brown Frazier had enough! Left ailing and in need of rehab from a car accident in 1929, she was traveling to New York to receive her care at The Rusk Institute, a leader in an emerging field of physical medicine and rehab. As a woman of vision, and tired of not having her care needs met at home, she set out to create a comparable facility in her hometown.
Using her resources and influence, she served as the catalyst for the creation of The Rehabilitation Center, Inc. in 1951 now known as UofL Health – Frazier Rehabilitation Institute.
The past six decades, Frazier Rehabilitation Institute has become a recognized leader in rehab care, creating an unparalleled network of services and locations. Patients come from across the world to receive care. One of the guiding forces of this success has been a long-term relationship with the University of Louisville and its Medicine, Nursing, Allied Health and Speed Engineering schools. Frazier is the exclusive teaching site for the University of Louisville School of Medicine in rehabilitative medicine.
A commitment to end cancer the UofL Health – Brown Cancer Center 1981
To help relieve the suffering of the state’s residents caused by cancer, the UofL Health – Brown Cancer Center was opened in 1981 with a $12 million gift from donors and the residents of Louisville. The commitment was made to create a center that would improve cancer care in the region and become one of the nation’s preeminent cancer centers. The belief was - and continues to be - that the residents of Kentucky deserve world-class cancer treatment, and no resident should feel compelled to leave Kentucky to seek the best level of care.
The Brown Cancer Center has enjoyed a period of remarkable growth in its clinical and research programs, with strong, multidisciplinary programs providing a team-focused approach to cancer care. These programs have been extended into several communities throughout the state in an emphasis on providing outreach to underserved populations.
Today, Brown Cancer Center continues to be a leader in the treatment of cancer.
The creation of UofL Health – UofL Physicians 2011
Created in 2011, UofL Physicians was formed when the medical practices of the faculty of the UofL School of Medicine, operating as many separate groups, were joined together to form the largest physician medical organization in the area. The chairs of the departments within the School of Medicine realized they could benefit from a consolidated business organization, learning from each other and providing better delivery of care to the community. For the first time in the school’s 182-year history, its physicians began operating as one patient care organization.
By working together as one organization, UofL Health – UofL Physicians offers the community a continuum of care, and physicians can easily collaborate and offer state-of-the-art treatment to patients. As researchers and teachers, we bring the entire strength of the UofL School of Medicine and many of its world-renowned physicians to every patient we treat through this consolidated, patient-driven approach.
With the acquisition of the Louisville assets of Kentucky One (Catholic Health Initiatives) in 2019, the KentuckyOne Community Physicians Group was merged into to UofL Health – UofL Physicians bringing into the organization over 200 physicians and dozens of practices and expanding the reach and impact of UofL Health – UofL Physicians further into the communities we serve.
And the history continues…
Four Medical Centers have opened the past 20 years, seven Urgent Cares, more than 1,000 providers, more than 13,000 employees and nearly 200 practice locations.
UofL Health – South Hospital in Bullitt County is now open with more to come.
