Philanthropies croisées : A joint venture in Public Health at Lyon (1918-1940)

Ludovic Tournès (1) , Pierre-Yves Saunier (2)

1 ISP - Institut des Sciences sociales du Politique
2 IRICE - Identites, relations internationales et civilisations de l'Europe

In Lyon the Ecole d'Infirmières and the Faculté de Médecine, situated respectively at 4 and 8 avenue Rockefeller, adjoin the Edouard Herriot Hospital and form part of a conglomeration of biomedical research laboratories recently named the "Pôle Santé Rockefeller" . The presence of the American multimillionaire within the local place names originates in the investments which the Rockefeller Foundation, created in 1913, made in Lyon between 1922 and 1940. It financed the Ecole d'Infirmières to the tune of 50 per cent of the building costs ($160,000 at current prices) and the Faculté to as much as 70 per cent ($800,000). This financial support took place within a general context of restructuring "health practices" in France during the interwar period: a restructuring that affected the apparatus of public health, hospitals, the teaching of medicine and medical research, as well as national insurance. It was within this framework that a synergy developed between nursing education, medical education, hospital work and laboratory research in Lyon. To a large extent, it resulted from active cooperation between the Rockefeller Foundation and individual actors within the Lyonnais health system.

Mots clés: France; Rockefeller foundation; philanthropy; public health; nursing; medical education; university; France.

Domaines: Histoire

Ludovic Tournès, Pierre-Yves Saunier. Philanthropies croisées : A joint venture in Public Health at Lyon (1918-1940). French History, 2009, 23 (2), pp.216-240. ⟨halshs-00651982⟩