Officially chartered by the state in 1858 as the Long Island College Hospital of the City of Brooklyn, it was authorized to operate a hospital and confer medical degrees on candidates who attended two lecture courses and completed a three-year preceptorship under a practicing physician. SUNY Downstate Medical Center, located in central Brooklyn, New York, is the only academic medical center for health education, research, and patient care serving Brooklyn’s 2.5 million residents. As of Fall 2011, it had a total student body of 1,738 and approximately 8,000 faculty and staff. Downstate Medical Center comprises a College of Medicine, Colleges of Nursing and Health Related Professions, Schools of Graduate Studies and Public Health, and University Hospital of Brooklyn.