Our History

^{_{Sketch of Woman’s Medical College, 1892. WCH Archives, L-00001.}}


Woman’s Medical College opens on October 1, 1883. It was founded by Dr. Emily Stowe, Canada’s first female physician, and her supporters. Women now have access to medical education at a time when there are few opportunities for women to study and practice medicine in Canada.

_{^{Women’s College Hospital and Dispensary, 1911-1915. WCH Archives, L-00005.}}


Women’s College Hospital (WCH) opens its doors in a small residential house at 18 Seaton Street on November 10, 1911. The hospital has seven inpatient beds and an active outpatient department. It is Canada’s first general women’s hospital operated by female doctors.

^{_{WCH, 1935. WCH Archives, L- L-00140.}}


WCH at 76 Grenville Street officially opens on February 22, 1936.

^{_{Cancer X-ray machine unveiled in the Cancer Detection Clinic, 1948. WCH Archives, L-00380. Photograph by Gordon H. Jarrett Photography.}}


WCH opens Ontario’s first Cancer Detection Clinic for women. The clinic pioneers the practice of screening healthy women for early signs of cancer.

^{_{Dr. Elizabeth Forbes examining X-rays in WCH’s Radiology Department, 1964. WCH Archives, L-01963. Photograph by John Reeves.}}


WCH is the first hospital in Ontario to use mammography as a routine diagnostic tool to detect breast cancer. In 1967, WCH’s Dr. Henrietta Banting and Dr. Elizabeth Forbes publish one of the first Canadian studies on mammography proving its holds benefits as a diagnostic tool.

^{_{Bay Centre for Birth Control, 1975. WCH Archives, L-00097.}}


The Bay Centre for Birth Control opens at WCH. It is Toronto’s first hospital-supported “walk-in” birth control clinic.

^{_{Nurse in Perinatal Intensive Care Unit, 1971. WCH Archives, L-00756.}}


Perinatal Intensive Care Unit is declared the Regional High-Risk Pregnancy Unit – the first of its kind in Canada.

The Brief Psychotherapy Centre for Women, the first hospital-based outpatient therapy program in Canada, is established.

Centre for Research in Women’s Health opens in partner ship with he University of Toronto – the largest Canadian research institute dedicated solely to women’s health

WCH designated as a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre in Women’s Health, the first in the Western Hemisphere

Canada’s first breast implant reconstruction in a single stage is completed at WCH.

WCH opens the Crossroads Clinic – Toronto’s first hospital-based refugee health clinic

The new WCH facility at 76 Grenville Street officially opens on June 10th, 2016.

WCH offers transition-related surgeries – the first public hospital-based surgical program in Canada focused on providing safe and timely access to transition-related surgical care.

WCH begins offering same-day joint replacement surgery in an outpatient setting – the first program of its kind in Canada.

In November 2020, WCH officially opens the Centre for Wise Practices in Indigenous Health – Ontario’s first hospital-based centre to develop a comprehensive strategy for transforming non-Indigenous healthcare spaces into ones incorporating traditional and inclusive Indigenous practices.

The Bay Centre celebrates its 50th anniversary, marking half a century of providing leadership in reproductive healthcare