the nation's only large inpatient program for adults with asthma; a pediatric program was added in the 1960s. In 1978, the hospital, then called the National Jewish Hospital and Research Center, merged with the National Asthma Center (NAC). The NAC had originally been founded in 1907 as a home for Jewish children of tuberculosis patients, changed its name in 1928 to the National Home for Jewish Children in Denver, in 1953 to the Jewish National Home for Asthmatic Children at Denver and in 1957 to the Children's Asthma Research Institute and Hospital (CARIH). In 1973, the name National Asthma Center was adopted. At the time of the merger, it was a national residential treatment facility for children with intractable asthma and a research hospital. Present mission National Jewish Health has no formal ties to any religious or quasi-religious institution and gets no funding from B'nai B'rith. Until 1968, the institution only accepted patients without health insurance; all care was free. Care is still free or heavily subsidized. U.S. News & World Report has ranked National Jewish Health as #1 or #2 every year that the pulmonology category has been included in the rankings (since 1997). Of those years, National Jewish Health has been ranked in the #1 spot for 17 of those years as the leading U.S. respiratory hospital. Current departments include: Allergy Asthma Behavioral Health Cardiology Environmental and Occupational Health Gastroenterology Immunology Mycobacterial and Infectious Disease Oncology Pathology Pulmonology Radiology Rheumatology Sleep Medicine The hospital operates Morgridge Academy on its main campus for kindergarten through eighth-grade children who are challenged with chronic illness. The smoking cessation program has helped millions of people via internet and phone to quit tobacco. These are among National Jewish's collaborations with health care institutions: Saint Joseph Hospital, Denver Mount Sinai - National Jewish Health Respiratory Institute, New York Jane and Leonard Korman Respiratory Institute, Philadelphia People Rabbi William S. Friedman Frances Wisebart Jacobs Kimishige Ishizaka, PhD and his wife Teruko Ishizaka MD John Kappler, PhD Philippa Marrack, PhD Seraphine Eppstein Pisko Cecile Rose, MD Andrew Speaker Accomplishments Ranked as one of the top two hospitals in pulmonology every year since U.S. News & World Report included this category in its annual “Best Hospitals” survey Ranked in the top 1 percent of hospitals in the nation by HCAHPS Among the top 8 percent of organizations funded for research by the NIH, providing patients access to