About Us

Medical Firsts at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center

Since its founding in 1901, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center has maintained a fine reputation for excellence in patient care, medical education, and research. An impressive series of "firsts," dating back to the turn of the century and extending well into the space age, have gained national and international recognition for us.

Newark Beth Israel's "firsts" include:

• NJ's first successful gall bladder removal
• NJ's first dental residency program
• NJ's first pregnancy tests
• The nation's first clinical bone marrow aspiration studies
• The first hospital-based blood bank
• Pioneering work on the Rh factor, sulfa drugs, and the treatment of hemophiliacs
• NJ's first successful renal dialysis procedure
• The nation's first major vascular and thoracic aneurysm surgery
• NJ's first kidney transplant
• NJ's first living-donor kidney transplant
• Development and implantation of the first American-made nuclear powered pacemaker
• NJ's first heart transplant
• First accredited sleep disorders center in NJ
• NJ's first lung transplant
• First same-day thoroscopic ligation to correct a congenital heart defect
• NJ's first simultaneous heart and kidney transplant
• The East Coast's first septuple bypass surgery performed off-pump
  
  

In 2001, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center celebrated its 100th year of service to the community. As we begin our second century, progress and innovation are alive and well at The Beth with recent breakthroughs that include:

2001: East Coast's first implantation of the DeBakey Micromed Ventricular Assist Device

2002: World's first use of the Biotronik Philos DR-T pacemaker with wireless cellular technology

Nation's first use of CHF Solutions' System 100 Fluid Removal System for people with congestive heart failure

State's first use of Mammosite technology, a revolutionary radiation treatment for breast cancer

2003: State’s first use of Acorn CorCap, an experimental device implanted round the heart to contain an enlarged heart and prevent further enlargement

State’s first use of Amplatzer Duct Occluder, a device recently approved by the FDA to repair abnormal blood vessels surrounding the hearts of infants so that surgery can be avoided.

2004: State’s first robotic surgery on a pediatric patient, using the daVinci Robotic Surgical System to perform a pyeloplasty to repair a blockage in the kidney.

NBIMC’s first Radical Prostatectomy, utilizing the daVinci Robotic Surgical System.

2005: State’s first use of the daVinci Robotic Surgical System for gynecological surgery.

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