A Legacy of Excellence

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania celebrates 150 years of advancements in patient care, research, and education

On this day 150 years ago, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) opened its doors to patients, beginning an institutional timeline marked by innovations in clinical care, breakthroughs in research, and excellence in education.

Designed and built by the University of Pennsylvania, HUP was the nation’s first general hospital to provide bedside teaching facilities for its medical school. Within its halls, HUP faculty, staff, and trainees created a foundation of knowledge from which the world could better understand health and disease.

These pioneers defined medicine, outlining its practice and delivery. They also developed some of America’s earliest programs in neurosurgery, radiology, ophthalmology, and dermatology. This trailblazing spirit endures as we fuel discoveries, improve treatments, reimagine patient experience, and serve neighborhoods and communities today.

In 1874, the HUP campus consisted of a three-story, neo-Gothic building on Spruce Street. It accommodated 146 beds to care for the infirm or injured. Today, HUP is a sprawling complex with 1,083 licensed beds and a dozen entwined structures, reflecting an array of eras but connected in life-saving purpose. This includes the most recent building addition of the Pavilion, a 1.5 million-square-foot future-forward hospital that seamlessly integrates science with clinical care.

In the last fiscal year alone, HUP employees managed 2.2 million outpatient visits, 103,836 emergency department visits, 39,360 admissions, and 4,085 births. As one of the six acute-care hospitals that form Penn Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Health System , HUP helps drive progress, enriching the entire health system as a best-in-class teaching organization and premier center of clinical research.

For more than a century, the legacy of HUP has been shaped by courageous, inventive, and passionate individuals, working in concert to build a better future. On this milestone anniversary, we remain inspired by their example, recommitting ourselves to the Penn Medicine mission and delivering on a promise for patients today and the generations of tomorrow.