Cushing's Tumor Registry Opens to the Public

The Cushing Center, new home to the Cushing Tumor Registry, opened its doors to visitors during the annual reunion in June. Fifteen years in the making, the combined museum, archive, and seminar space, located two floors below ground within the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, is arguably as unique as the collection itself.

Named for 1891 Yale College graduate, Harvey Cushing, M.D., the father of modern neurosurgery, the Cushing Center houses more than the 400 jars of patients' brains and tumors; it also houses a selection from Cushing's book collection-thousands of first and second editions of every major medical and scientific text from the 11th century through the 18th-and a few of the many books penned by Cushing himself. A body of work whose artistic significance rivals its medical and historic significance, the exhibit also includes Cushing's skillful surgical illustrations and dramatic black and white portraits of his patients.