Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Mr. Johns Hopkins?

First things first: why the extra "S"? Because his first name was really a last name. 

Johns Hopkins' great-grandmother was Margaret Johns, the daughter of Richard Johns, owner of a 4,000-acre estate in Calvert County, Md. Margaret Johns married Gerard Hopkins in 1700; one of their children was named Johns Hopkins. The second Johns Hopkins, grandson of the first, was born in 1795 on his family's tobacco plantation in southern Maryland. His formal education ended in 1807, when his parents, devout Quakers, decided on the basis of religious conviction to free their slaves and put Johns and his brother to work in the fields. Johns left home at 17 for Baltimore and a job in business with an uncle, then established his own mercantile house at the age of 24. 

A businessman, bank president and railroad magnate, Johns Hopkins was the most powerful financier in Baltimore during the mid-1800s. Upon his death on Christmas Eve 1873, the lifelong bachelor left $7 million to create a university to advance learning and scientific research and a hospital to administer the finest patient care, train superior physicians and seek new knowledge to advance medicine. His wishes led to the foundation of The Johns Hopkins University and The Johns Hopkins Hospital—the first linked hospital and university in the United States.

What is Johns Hopkins Medicine?

Today, Johns Hopkins uses one overarching name—Johns Hopkins Medicine—to identify its whole medical enterprise. This $4 billion virtual organization unites the physicians and scientists of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with the health professionals and facilities that make up the broad Johns Hopkins Health System—some 26,000 employees in total. Most of the physicians who practice in our health system are full-time faculty of the school of medicine.

What is the mission of Johns Hopkins Medicine?

The mission of Johns Hopkins Medicine is to improve the health of the community and the world by setting the standard of excellence in medical education, research and clinical care. Diverse and inclusive, Johns Hopkins Medicine educates medical students, scientists, health care professionals and the public; conducts biomedical research, and provides patient-centered medicine to prevent, diagnose and treat human illness.

Where is The Johns Hopkins Hospital?

The Johns Hopkins Hospital is located in Baltimore, Maryland, on the East Coast of the United States. It is 30 minutes from Baltimore-Washington International Airport, less than one hour north of Washington, D.C., and three hours south of New York City. Johns Hopkins’ main East Baltimore medical campus is very close to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor area, the heart of downtown.

This campus is home to The Johns Hopkins Hospital, the Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center, The Johns Hopkins University’s schools of Medicine, Nursing and Public Health, plus other research and administrative buildings—all told more than 20 buildings on 44 acres.

Is it public or private?

The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center are private, nonprofit hospitals. They are not affiliated with the U.S. government or any local government agency.

What makes Johns Hopkins different from other hospitals?

Johns Hopkins offers the best in highly specialized, multidisciplinary care. But our physicians and nurses also train the next generation of health care pioneers and push toward new discoveries that unravel the mysteries of disease and improve the health of the world. Among them are winners of the Nobel Prize, the Lasker Award (the “American Nobel”) and other prestigious honors.

Johns Hopkins receives more federal research funding—some $600 million a year—than any other medical institution in the country. As our patient, you benefit from this vast research enterprise by being among the first to receive new treatments.

Research at Johns Hopkins has led to inventions such as a 3-dimensional CT scan to diagnose complex cancers with earlier and greater accuracy; minimally invasive procedures that require shorter hospitalization and recovery times; and magnetic resonance images that show the heart in motion.

What are a few of Johns Hopkins’ medical “firsts” and breakthrough discoveries?

Johns Hopkins counts many firsts among its achievements:

• First combined hospital and medical school in the United States
• First major medical school in the United States to admit women
• First to use rubber gloves during surgery
• First to develop renal dialysis and CPR
• First school of public health
• First children’s hospital to be integrated into an academic medical center
• Birthplace of many medical specialties, including neurosurgery, neurology, endocrinology and pediatrics

Johns Hopkins physicians also pioneered the:

• Nobel Prize-winning discovery of restriction enzymes (gave birth to the genetic engineering industry)
• Discovery of the brain’s natural opiates (triggered an explosion of interest in neurotransmitter pathways and functions)
• Identification of the three types of polio virus
• “Blue baby” operation (opened the way to modern heart surgery)
• Nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy surgery
• Rechargeable cardiac pacemaker
• Implantable insulin pump