Christian Medical College Vellore was started as a one-bedded clinic-cum-dispensary in 1900 by Dr Ida Sophia Scudder, the daughter of second-generation medical missionaries.
Today, this healthcare organization of international repute includes a network of primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary care hospitals, with around 3844 beds spread across six campuses in and around Vellore, and in the neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh.  Christian Medical College, Vellore, widely known as CMC, Vellore, is a private, Christian minority community-run medical college and hospital in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. This institute includes a network of primary, secondary and tertiary care hospitals.

The institute, constituent college is affiliated with the Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University. Founded in 1900 by an American missionary, Dr Ida S. Scudder, CMC Vellore has brought many significant achievements to India, including starting the first College of Nursing in 1946, performing the first reconstructive surgery for leprosy in the world (1948), performing the first successful open heart surgery in India (1961), performing the first kidney transplant in India (1971), performing first bone marrow transplantation (1986) in India and performing the first successful ABO incompatible kidney transplant in India (2009).