Lahey Clinic

The Lahey Clinic is a not-for-profit teaching hospital in Burlington, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1923 by Dr. Frank H. Lahey.

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History

When Dr. Frank Howard Lahey founded a group practice in 1923, his plan was to create a clinic where many specialties would coexist under one roof. This idea became the Lahey Clinic and it was built at 605 Commonwealth Ave., in Boston where it would remain for another 55 years.

Lahey's original team—anesthesiologist Lincoln Sise, operating nurse Blanche Wallace, surgical assistant Howard Clute, and gastroenterologist Sara Jordan—were pioneers in their fields.

Physicians saw only outpatients at Lahey Clinic in the early years. In fact, much of the day was spent traveling between the New England Baptist Hospital, New England Deaconess, and Peter Bent Brigham hospitals to perform surgeries and visit inpatients.

Medical centers were not common in the United States in the 1920s. If there were problems that the family doctor could not handle, the patient would be referred to a specialist or transported to a hospital. ^[1] Lahey’s team was often called out to outlying Greater Boston towns for emergencies—to towns and cities in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.

By the 1930s and ‘40s, the Clinic was known worldwide for its phenomenal surgical outcomes, and state-of-the-art treatment of thyroid, gastrointestinal and gall bladder disorders. In 1940, an article was written in Time Magazine describing the Clinic’s history and Dr. Lahey’s election as the new president of the American Medical Association.^[2]

The reputation that Lahey Clinic has for innovative technology, pioneer medical treatment and leading-edge research was built upon Dr. Lahey's belief that the group practice should also be a center for research and learning. From the beginning, the Clinic offered residents and fellows a chance to polish their skills under the careful supervision of some of the nation's leading physicians.

By the time the Clinic moved 11 miles northwest to its current location in Burlington in November 1980, the practice had expanded to include services offered by more than 30 departments. Many of these departments had begun with a single physician who worked to promote his or her specialty. The Gastroenterology and Anesthesiology Departments, in particular, arose from the practices of Jordan and Sise, who in the 1920s were among the first physicians in the United States to specialize in these growing fields.

About Lahey Clinic

At Lahey Clinic, more than 430 physicians and 4,400 nurses, therapists and other support staff work together to provide compassionate care and superior patient outcomes.^[3] The Clinic's multidisciplinary approach allows patients access to physicians from several medical specialties, who cooperate to develop personalized treatment plans for each patient.

Lahey Clinic Medical Center is a teaching hospital of Tufts University School of Medicine.^[4] In addition, many of its physicians hold teaching assignments at Harvard Medical School and Boston University School of Medicine. The Clinic maintains residency and fellowship programs for more than 130 new physicians in multiple subspecialties. ^[3]

As a research center, Lahey Clinic offers patients access to clinical trials of new therapies for diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and cataracts. Research programs at Lahey Clinic encompass more than 200 clinical trial protocols and participation in numerous national and international studies. ^[5]

Specialties

Lahey Clinic provides access to many medical specialties.

The Heart & Vascular Center is one of the largest in the region and is recognized as a Solucient 100 Top Hospital. ^[6] Through partnerships with local hospitals, Lahey physicians provide advanced cardiology services such as angioplasty and electrophysiology.

The Cerebrovascular Disease Center is among the most advanced in the region for the treatment of strokes and brain aneurysms. The Liver Transplantation Team was the first in New England to perform adult live-donor transplant procedures. In addition, surgeons are using minimally invasive laparoscopic methods, reducing the surgical recovery time for conditions such as kidney disease and bladder cancer. Robotic surgical techniques are also emerging in urology and gynecological surgery. For the past six years, Lahey Clinic was cited in U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Hospitals issue for excellence in treating urological diseases. ^[7]

Through the Sophia Gordon Cancer Center at Lahey Clinic, a complete range of medical and surgical specialty departments are involved in the care of cancer patients. They sponsor regular tumor conferences to exchange information and, together as a team, manage patients with the most complex diagnoses.

Facilities

Lahey Clinic Medical Center in Burlington encompasses an ambulatory care center serving more than 3,000 patients each day and a 317-bed hospital.^[3] Lahey Clinic Medical Center, North Shore, in Peabody, serves more than 800 outpatients each day and includes a 10-bed hospital. Both feature 24-hour emergency departments, and an American College of Surgeons verified Level II Trauma Center is based at the Burlington facility.

Lahey Clinic also has 12 community group practices that feature adult internists, pediatricians and family practice specialists. These practices enable Lahey Clinic to serve communities such as Amesbury on the North Shore, Lexington in Boston's northwestern suburbs, and Haverhill on the New Hampshire border.

Recognitions

Lahey Clinic was named among the top cardiovascular teaching hospitals in the country by Solucient, a leading source of health care business research.^[6] Lahey also received the Premier Award for Quality for excellent care in the area of heart failure.^[8] In July 2006, U.S. News & World Report named Lahey Clinic in its “America’s Best Hospitals” issue for the ninth year in a row. Lahey was listed among the best in the country for excellence in urologic diseases. ^[7]

Lahey received the American Stroke Association’s Get with the Guidelines-Stroke Initial Performance Achievement Award.^[9] Lahey is one of 68 centers classified as Primary Stroke Services by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Lahey Clinic has accreditation from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) to perform live-donor liver transplants. Lahey’s liver team has performed more than 128 live-donor liver transplant surgeries since the program’s inception.

References

• Lahey Clinic -- Research for microRNA role in urologic cancer
• Lahey Clinic -- The U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA)
• Nuclear technology in use at Lahey Clinic
• U.S.News & World report, best Hospitals
• Lahey Clinic Physician wins service award
• U.S. Government clinical trials ongoing at Lahey Clinic
• U.S. National Institutes of Health government grants to Lahey Clinic
• 453 medical publications citing Lahey Clinic in the National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine
• Paper published by Lahey for the U.S. Department of Health and Human services, on protecting human subjects
• National Library of Medicine --History of Lahey Clinic department of department of neurosurgery
• News story about Lahey Clinic and a new cardiology fellowship – contains a Lahey history
• Private organization rates Lahey Clinic
• Book about liver transplantation at Lahey Clinic
• National Institutes of Health Paper on rapid detection of bloodstream infections investigations at Lahey Clinic
• CareerMD.com Recruiting ad for recommending Lahey Clinic, cites history and culture
• Article on a unique liver transplant at Lahey Clinic
• Massachusetts government report on hospitals