The University of Massachusetts Medical School was chartered in 1962 and opened in 1970, one of the cohort of medical schools founded in response to fears of a physician shortage. In Massachusetts, this translated into a call for more opportunities for the state’s students to attend an affordable school where, it was hoped, they would deliver primary care to the people of their home state. Yet, the original dean and faculty, most of whom were recruited from Boston medical schools, were equally devoted to basic research and tertiary care medicine. This book tells the story of the school’s successful efforts to reconcile the demands of primary care education with world-class research, with Part 1 telling the sometimes raucous story of the politics attendant on bringing the school from legislative enactment to actual groundbreaking, a process lasting more than 20 years.