The Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore and the associated teaching hospitals were founded by Dr Ida Sophia Scudder, the daughter of a medical missionary. She was born in 1870 to a missionary couple working in Tindivanam, sixty miles south of Chennai and later went back to America to complete her education. In 1890, she returned to India to attend to her ailing mother. On a single night during that visit, Ida was approached by three men seeking her help for their young wives in labour. As she could not offer help, and as local customs did not permit a male doctor to attend to them, young Ida was moved by the death of these three young Indian women during childbirth. She saw the suffering of women in India and realized the need in India for women doctors to attend to women whose traditions did not permit them to be treated by men.

In 2018, we celebrated the centenary of medical education, which began in 1918 with a Licentiate Medical Practitioner course to impart medical training to women. In 1942, the MBBS degree course was started and in 1947, the medical college became co-educational. 

In the delivery of health care, CMC provides a culture of caring while pursuing its commitment to professional excellence. For decades synonymous with excellence, CMC has maintained a fine balance between providing state-of-the-art treatment while being inclusive and minimising the financial burden on patients, thus playing, over the years, a pivotal role in improving healthcare in the country.