i would take a smart kid book and make it about primetime television.

Grey’s Anatomy fans, hello. Hi. There you are. When I think of Johns Hopkins, I think about advances in medicine. I also think about how they want Alex Karev to work in their PEDS fellowship program. Normal, I’m sure because Seattle Grace is real life and everything. I’m sure that is exactly what Neil A. Grauer had in mind when he wrote Leading the Way: A History of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

The name speaks for itself really, but let me give you a little overview, for giggles. Toward the end of the 19th century, American medical education was in chaos; most medical schools were little more than trade schools. Often, it was easier to gain admission to one of these than to a liberal arts college. Crazy. With the opening of The Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1889, followed four years later by The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins kicked it up a notch by ushering in a new era marked by rigid entrance requirements for medical students, a vastly upgraded medical school curriculum with emphasis on the scientific method, the incorporation of bedside teaching and laboratory research as part of the instruction. Fun facts: Johns Hopkins was the first major medical school in the United States to admit women (here, here!) AND the first to use rubber gloves during surgery (thank you for that friends). It’s an extremely interesting read, even if you’re not medical school bound.