NorthShore University HealthSystem

NorthShore was founded as Evanston Hospital in 1891 during an outbreak of typhoid fever.[1] In the early 1900s Evanston Hospital expanded and became a teaching hospital.[1]

Louis W. Sauer developed a vaccine for Whooping Cough at Evanston Hospital in the 1920s.[1] The hospital became affiliated with Northwestern University and the Feinberg School of Medicine in the 1930s.[1]

Evanston Hospital expanded to 475 beds during the 1940s and established intensive care, cardiac care, kidney dialysis center and neonatology units.

ENH opened Glenbrook Hospital in 1977. In 1981, the Kellogg Cancer Care Center was established, the first cancer center built by a community hospital in the nation. Highland Park Hospital was acquired in 2000. The Kellogg Cancer Care Center was demolished in 2008 and a new building was scheduled to open in 2010.

Skokie Hospital, formerly Rush North Shore Medical Center, joined NorthShore in January 2009.

Formerly known as Evanston Northwestern Healthcare (ENH) while affiliated with Northwestern University Medical School, the integrated healthcare delivery system changed its academic affiliation and name in September 2008.[2] In a letter in NorthShore's 2008 annual report, President and CEO Mark Neaman said the organization opted for a new name because "we have simply outgrown our old name."

Neaman stated the name change - specifically dropping "Evanston" and adding "University" - reflected the changes NorthShore had undergone in recent years.

NorthShore's four Hospitals stretch "far beyond our 'hometown' of Evanston," Neaman said. The addition of "University" was meant to reflect the integrated healthcare system's status as a teaching hospital and "recognized our new teaching affiliation with the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine."

The change from "Healthcare" to "HealthSystem" was brought about by a "position in Northern Illinois as a comprehensive integrated delivery system of care."

The driving force behind the name change from "Evanston Northwestern Healthcare" to "Northshore University Health System" was the result of a termination of the academic affiliation with Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, thereby making the word "Northwestern" in the ENH name no longer appropriate. ENH subsequently established an academic affiliation with the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, thus the word "University" in its new title.

Established in 1996, the NorthShore Research Institute serves more than 1,000 research projects and more than 150 externally funded research faculty. Priority areas for research are medical genetics, cancer, neurosciences, advanced imaging research, cardiovascular, peri-neonatal and outcomes research. The Research Institute has approximately 125,000 net square feet of research space.

Included is a collaborative building with Northwestern University on its Evanston Campus called the Arthur and Gladys Pancoe-NorthShore University HealthSystem Life Sciences Pavilion, and the Charles R. Walgreen Jr. Building on the Evanston Hospital campus. Emphasis is on translational and clinical research allowing discoveries from the basic sciences and engineering to be brought promptly to the bedside. Funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) places the hospitals of NorthShore University HealthSystem at No. 9 among multi-specialty independent research hospitals in the country.[6]

President and CEO Mark Neaman received the 2009 Gold Medal Award from the American College of Healthcare Executives,[7] the organization's highest honor.

NorthShore has been named on several 'Best Hospital' lists including U.S. News & World Report and Verispan. NorthShore is an 11-time recipient of Solucient's "Top 100 Hospitals" distinction.[8]

It has also been recognized as one of the "Most Wired Hospitals" in the country by Hospitals and Health Magazine.[9][10][11]

NorthShore was named one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals in 2008 and was the only Illinois hospital recognized as a Top 15 Major Teaching Hospitals as ranked by Thomson Reuters.[12]

NorthShore received a John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award in 2007 from the National Quality Forum and the Joint Commission for developing and successfully deploying the first program of screening all patients at admission for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).[13]

HealthGrades tabbed the NorthShore Hospitals of Evanston, Glenbrook and Highland Park to its 2007 list of 50 Best Hospitals.[14]

The NorthShore University HealthSystem Research Institute was named 9th among Independent Research Hospitals by the National Institutes of Health.[15]

• NorthShore Homepage
• Evanston Hospital
• Glenbrook Hospital
• Highland Park Hospital
• Skokie Hospital