North Dakota, Heal Thyself

Patrick A. McGuire, Commissioned Biography, History

North Dakota,
Heal Thyself
by John W. Vennes, Ph.D.
and Patrick A. McGuire

On the rugged plains of
North Dakota, they have
always had to grow
their own doctors

A century of prairie doctors

   Though its full-time faculty ranks smaller than that of any medical school in the United States, the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of North Dakota enjoys a national reputation as an educational gem.

   North Dakota, Heal Thyself, written in observance of the school’s Centennial celebration, recounts the trying pioneer days of the early 20th century when it was difficult to attract competent physicians to the remote Great Northern Plains.

   In 1905 the university founded a school of medicine with a simple mission: produce doctors who would settle in rural North Dakota.

   Today, notes H. David. Wilson, M.D., dean of the medical school, the school turns out bright, humane doctors whose scores rank in the top quarter of all medical schools.

   “Yet often I sense that our inspiring story — full of characters, drama, risks taken and ground gained over a century of sacrifice and hard-fought progress — is only partially understood by North Dakotans.

   "With our centennial observance on the horizon, I thought it a wholly fitting time to help our citizens recall and celebrate the deeds of those who went before us and who laid the groundwork for our ability today to send excellent medical professionals out into our daily lives.”

Click here to read an excerpt of North Dakota, Heal Thyself.

North Dakota's 'Book of the Year'

On September 22, 2006, at its annual conference, the North Dakota Library Association selected "North Dakota, Heal Thyself: The Story of the First Hundred Years at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, the University of North Dakota" as the state document considered most excellent in content and preparation.

Domain Extensions