Berkshire Medical College (originally the Berkshire Medical Institution, and sometimes referred to as Berkshire Medical College) was a
medical school in
Pittsfield,
Massachusetts. It is notable for establishing the first
professorship in mental diseases at any medical school in the United States, and for granting the first medical degree ever issued to an
African American.
It originated in 1823 as the Medical Department of
Williams College, graduated 1138 people, and was disbanded in 1867.[1]
Pliny Earle (physician), professor of
materia medica and psychology at BMC (the first professorship in mental diseases ever established by a medical college in the United States)
^Council on Medical Education and Hospitals of the American Medical Association. "Medical Colleges" p. 10, in Medical Colleges of the United States and of foreign countries 1918 American Medical Association, 1918; p. 82