1931 | George Peterson and Kenneth Gieser met at Northwestern University in Chicago, and the organization was born.

In 1965, Dr. George Peterson (left) and Dr. Kenneth Gieser revisited the John Timothy Stone Chapel where CMS was originally founded.

The vision for the present day Christian Medical & Dental Associations began in 1931 in the dorm room of George Peterson, a first year medical student at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, Illinois. George was having difficulty coping with being both a country boy from Wisconsin and one of the few Christians on campus. One day during his second semester, second year medical student Kenneth Gieser decided to introduce himself to several of the first year students on the third floor of his Phi Beta Pi House. When he came to George’s room, he noticed a devotional book, Streams in the Desert, on the desk. “You’re my kind of a man, George,” he said, “I’ve been waiting for you.”

Both men had been experiencing a sense of loneliness in their Christian walk at Northwestern. The two quickly began meeting regularly for prayer and Scripture reading. The small John Timothy Stone Chapel in Chicago’s Fourth Presbyterian Church on Michigan Avenue became their special sanctuary every Saturday afternoon. Soon other medical students joined the two men, and the Christian Medical Society (CMS) was born.

The following year, CMS moved a few blocks south to the Lawson YMCA. Within three years, a group of medical students had also started meeting at the University of Illinois Medical School. During the 1934-35 school year, CMS became an official organization. The first officers were elected—President Franklin A. Olson and Vice President Henry Schweinfurth—and a constitution was written that stated these objectives of the society:

“To provide and foster Christian fellowship among the members of the medical schools and the profession through weekly meetings for reading and discussion of the Bible and for prayer, to be supplemented by outside speakers, and to present a positive witness of God our Father and our Savior Jesus Christ to the medical profession.”

1952 | One of CMS’ first family conferences was held at Bear Trap Ranch in Colorado.

1954 | The first shipment of drugs was donated to CMS. This led to the development of MAP, which eventually became its own organization.

1959 | The first International Convention on Missionary Medicine was held at Wheaton College in Illinois.

Rev. Billy Graham speaks at the CMS National Convention in San Francisco, California in 1958.

In 1952, CMS moved its main offices to downtown Chicago. It was to this building that Art Larson, an employee with Scherring Company, shipped 11 tons of drugs worth $26,000. The society gladly accepted this gift and began a new outreach of CMS that became known as the Missionary Assistance Program (MAP), later called the Medical Assistance Program.

1973 | The first commissions were set up to oversee special service opportunities and report to the House of Delegates.

1978 | The first continuing medical education program for missionary doctors was held in Liberia.

1979 | CMS moved from Chicago, Illinois to Richardson, Texas.

Under the excellent leadership of Executive Director Dr. Haddon Robinson, CMS outgrew its office space in Oak Park. Dr. Robinson was living in the Dallas, Texas area and teaching part-time at Dallas Theological Seminary. Major medical centers, a lower cost of operations and a major airport nearby were added attractions to the area. In 1979, the board decided to build a one-story CMS headquarters on Gateway Boulevard in Richardson, a suburb of Dallas. They felt the new location was a “Gateway to Growth.”

That same year, under the leadership of Dr. David Stewart, a former missionary to Burundi, CMS held its first continuing medical and dental education conference for healthcare missionaries in Liberia. It was a huge success by offering continuing education, networking with other missionary doctors and spiritual renewal.

1991 | The Paul Tournier Institute was established.

1995 | CMDS moved from Dallas, Texas to Bristol, Tennessee.

1999 | CMDS established an office in Washington, DC.

The early 1990s brought challenges and opportunities. CMDS faced financial difficulties, the Executive Director resigned and Medical Group Mission broke off to become a separate organization. In mid-1994, Dr. David Stevens, a former medical missionary and Director of World Medical Missions, was asked to lead CMDS. Five months later, he invited Dr. Gene Rudd to come on board and major changes followed. King Pharmaceuticals, Inc., located in Bristol, Tennessee, had just acquired the previous facilities of Beecham Pharmaceuticals. Through a relationship with the Gregory family, the owners of King, CMDS was offered 24,000 square feet of office space at essentially no cost, markedly lowering the organization’s overhead. The Tri-Cities area also offered the organization a great workforce, a much lower cost of living, the majority of its membership within an eight-hour drive and a beautiful environment, not to mention quadruple the usable office space.

After much prayer, the Board of Trustees decided to make the move from Texas to Tennessee in 1995. Despite inducements, almost all the office staff didn’t make the move due to family situations, but by sending new staff to Dallas for training, the transition was pulled off seamlessly. Rapid expansion of programs, resources and services followed. Membership doubled over the next five years.

CMDS became the voice of Christian doctors as it conducted hundreds of radio, TV and print interviews each year. As the organization’s influence grew, a full-time staff member was placed in a new CDMS office in Washington, D.C. to influence Congress and the administration on bioethical and healthcare issues.

Global Health Outreach was established with an emphasis on evangelism, leadership and training, discipleship and partnering with local churches on the mission field. This short-term missions program had a huge impact as it focused on radically changing the lives of its participates through its 40 to 50 teams each year serving from Honduras to the Middle East.

Throughout the 2010s, CMDA continued to grow and expand. Medical Education International sent close to 200 healthcare professionals overseas each year to teach and build relationships to share the gospel with national physicians. The Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons grew to include a dozen accredited surgical residency programs at mission hospitals in Africa that train national surgeons to be healthcare missionaries to their own people. The Commission on Human Tracking, the Center for Well-being and Christian Physical Rehab Professionals were among the organization’s new ministries.

Dr. Mike Chupp with his wife Pam was commissioned as the new Chief Executive Officer of CMDA at the 2019 CMDA National Convention in May 2019.

Today, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals are part of CMDA’s membership, due in part to a renewed effort on joining together with all types of healthcare professionals. In 2018, CMDA hosted its first Remedy Mission Conference, which focused on raising up a new generation of healthcare missionaries. In 2019, after 25 years of leadership, Dr. David Stevens and Dr. Gene Rudd retired from CMDA. Dr. Mike Chupp, a missionary surgeon who spent 20 years serving at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya, was chosen by the Board of Trustees to lead CMDA.