The Christian Medical College Vellore, located in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, is an unaided minority educational institution established in the year 1900. 

Started as a single-bedded clinic, under the leadership of Dr. Ida Sophia Scudder, the only daughter of second-generation American missionaries, it grew into a full-fledged medical college imparting education in medical, nursing and allied health sciences. Today, it is one of the top-ranked educational, healthcare and research institutes in the country. 

In 2019 we celebrated the centenary of medical education, which began in 1918 with a Licentiate Medical Practitioner course to impart medical training to women. In 1942, the MBBS degree course was started and in 1947, the medical college became co-educational. 

CMC’s network of primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary care teaching hospitals is spread across six campuses in and around Vellore, and is, together, a 3000-bedded multi-speciality medical institution of international fame. 

In the delivery of health care, CMC provides a culture of caring while pursuing its commitment to professional excellence. For decades synonymous with excellence, CMC has maintained a fine balance between providing state-of-the-art treatment while being inclusive and minimising the financial burden on patients, thus playing, over the years, a pivotal role in improving healthcare in the country. 

In the area of research, CMC strives to understand God’s purposes and designs, fostering a spirit of enquiry, commitment to truth and high ethical standards. CMC’s research activities have contributed to major health policies such as the national poliomyelitis immunisation policy and policies regarding the treatment and rehabilitation of patients with leprosy. 

To effectively practise our calling to be a faith-based establishment ministering to people of all faiths and from all walks of life, CMC has also instituted a missions outreach programme that seeks to broaden the network of organisations involved in the healing ministry, and is committed to reviving mission fields in the rural pockets across the country that lack access to quality medical services. 

As a strictly not-for-profit society, all available funds are used to subsidise student education; to provide free or subsidised treatment for deserving patients; to fund charitable outreach activities; or are invested in infrastructure and projects necessary to sustain and develop our capacity to pursue our mission and objectives. We seek to be accountable for the resources and trust placed in us, and to be socially and environmentally responsible in all our activities.

The journey highlights

1900 – 1910

1900   Ida Scudder begins work with a single-bed dispensary in her parents’ bungalow
1902   40-bedded Mary Taber Schell Memorial Hospital opens with the first Dept. of Surgery in India
1903  First training course for female compounders starts
1906  First “roadside clinics” deployed: primary care brought to villages using bullock carts
1909  First Nursing education program opens offering Diploma course 

1910 – 1920
1918  India’s first Medical School for women opens with a Licentiate of Medical Practitioner Course 

1940 – 1950
1924  CMC Hospital opens on its present site in Vellore
1942  Medical College opens with full MBBS course 
1945  Lab Technician training course 
1946  India’s first College of Nursing opens offering degree course
1947  Male medical students admitted for MBBS course
1948  First reconstructive surgery on leprosy patients in the world carried out by Dr. Paul Brand 
1949  First Neurological Sciences department in South Asia set up by Dr. Jacob Chandy Rural Health Centre at Kavanur 
1950  MD and MS courses 

1950 – 1960

1954  Radiographer training course 
1956  Mental Health Centre 
1957  Rural Health Centre at Bagayam Pharmacy diploma course 

1960 – 1970

1961  Successful open heart surgery (India’s first) Middle ear microsurgery (India’s first) 
1962  Medical Records and Physiotherapy courses 
1965  Fleming Memorial Research Laboratory in Virology 
1966  Rehabilitation Institute (India’s first) 
1968  Occupational Therapy and Hospital Administration courses 
1969  College of Nursing Post-graduate degree courses 
1970  Department of Nephrology 

1970 – 1980

1971  Kidney Transplant (India’s first successful kidney transplant) 
1976  Artificial Kidney Lab 
1977  RUHSA First External Quality Assurance Scheme for 59 Indian labs 
1978  Betatron ICMR Centre for Advanced Research in Virology; Nambikkai Nilayam (an institute for children with special needs) 

1980 – 1990

1981  Ophthalmology hospital in the Schell campus 
1982  Degree programmes in Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy 
              Low Cost Effective Care Unit started
1984  Department of Continuing Medical Education
1985  Epidemiology Resource Centre 
1986  National AIDS Reference and Surveillance Centre,

 Bone marrow transplant (India’s first), 

             MSc Biostatistics 
1987  CONCH 

1990 – 2000

1991  Dr Ida B. Scudder Radiation Therapy Block 
1994  Clinical Pastoral Counselling diploma course 
1995  Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Reproductive Medicine Unit; 
              Department of Endocrinology 
1996  Carotid Bifurcation Stenting (India’s first);
              Trans-septal Carotid Stenting (world’s first);
              Trans-jugular Mitral Valvuloplasty (world’s first); 
              Distance Education Unit; 
              Family Medicine programme 
1997  Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit; 
              Developmental Paediatrics Unit; 
              Clinical Pharmacy post-graduate diploma course; 
              In-Vitro Fertilisation via gamete intrafallopian tube transfer (India’s first) 
1998  Bone marrow transplant in 6-month-old baby (India’s first);
              Total body irradiation for bone marrow transplantation (CMC’s first) 
1999  Intracytoplasmic sperm injection for infertility (CMC’s first); 
              Liver transplantation (CMC’s first);
              WHO’s 50th anniversary award for the best institution providing primary health care in 1999

2000  Ida S. Scudder Centenary Centre for Women and Children

2000 – 2010

2001  PACS for Radiology 
2002  Medical Oncology Unit; Cytogenetics Lab 
2003  Vellore Bombay Artificial Limb; Department of Bioengineering; 
              Palliative Care Unit 
2004  H1 Grading by Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency; 
              Rheumatology Unit; 
              Medical Genetics Unit; 
              Telemedicine Unit; 
              South Asian Cochrane Network; 
              Department of Medical Education 
2005  Living donor liver transplant (CMC’s first); 
              Department of Continuing Nursing Education; 
              Surgical ventricular restoration (CMC’s first); 
              IDTRC 
2006  PG Diploma in Family Medicine (Distance Education course) 
2007  CSCR Pneumatic Tube Conveyor System for laboratory samples; 
              Fellowship in Secondary Hospital Medicine; 
              Missions Office
2008  Anti-Retroviral Therapy Centre; 
              Department of Geriatric Medicine 
2009  Endovascular repair of aortic aneurysm using three chimney grafts (first); 
              Successful ABO-incompatible renal transplant (India’s first);
              Interventional pulmonary services; 
              Cardiac Electrophysiology Unit; 
              Department of Hospital Management Studies and Training 
2010  Chittoor Hospital campus foundation stone laid
              First PET Scanner in India
              Social Responsibility Award
              Field Research Facility 
              College of Nursing (CON) receives GFATM award
              Florence Taylor Memorial Library opens in CON
              Medical Education Unit recognised as Regional Centre 

2010 till date

2011  School of Optometry; E-learning classroom;
              Advanced Medical Simulation lab 
2012  Medical Physics Education and Research 
              Block; 
              Medical undergraduate seats increase from 60
              to 100; 
              Superspeciality courses in Endocrinology, 
              Hepatology, Neonatology, Rheumatology,                       Endocrine Surgery and Vascular Surgery 
2014  BMJ Award 2014 for Primary Healthcare in Challenging Circumstances
              SKOCH Order of Merit Awards 2014 for GIS and Tribal Healthcare
2015  Superspeciality courses in Critical Care and         Hand Surgery; 
              MD Nuclear Medicine
              WHO’s Public Health Champions Award 
2016  5th International Consultation 
2017  Bricklaying ceremony for trauma care centre, at Kannigapuram Campus
2018  Centenary of Medical Education (1918 – 2018)