Licenses, Degrees, and Certificates collection

History of the medical degree: According to Sir John Bagot Glubb, Syed Faride and S. M. Imamuddin, the first medical schools to issue academic degrees and diplomas were the teaching Bimaristan (Hospitals) of the medieval Islamic world. The first of these institutions opened in Baghdad during the time of Harun al-Rashid. They then appeared in Egypt from 872 and then in Islamic Spain, Persia and the Maghreb thereafter. Physicians and surgeons at these hospital-universities gave lectures on Medicine to medical students and then a medical diploma or degree was issued to students who were qualified to be practicing physicians.

According to Douglas Guthrie, who bases his account on L Thorndike, medical men were first called "Doctor" at the Medical School of Salerno. He states that the Emperor Frederick II decreed in 1221 that no one should practice medicine until he had been publicly examined and approved by the masters of Salerno. The course lasted 5 years, and to start one had to be 21 years old and show proof of legitimacy and of three years study of logic. The course was followed by a year of supervised practice. After the laureation ceremony the practitioners could call themselves "magister" or "doctor."

In 1889 Oregon legislators responded to demands from the medical community and passed a bill creating the Board of Medical Examiners. Charged with regulating the practice of medicine in Oregon, the Board was appointed by the Governor and included “three persons from among the most competent physicians in the state.” Licensing requirements were relatively simple. Physicians either had to show a diploma from a medical school, pass an exam given by the Board, or, if already practicing, register within 60 days of the new law’s passage. Over the next 40 years, the Medical Practice Act went through significant changes. In 1895, the legislature added two members to the Board and defined unprofessional conduct for the first time to include “employment of cappers or steerers (payment for patient testimonials), moral turpitude, betraying professional secrets, and obtaining a fee for the care of an incurable disease.” Applicants also were now required to submit their educational credentials and pass an exam on all branches of medicine. An osteopathic physician was added to the Board in 1907.