Education Information: 2015

Archive for 2015

Lancaster Medical School

(LMS) is the smallest public medical school in the UK. It is located in Lancaster, Lancashire in North West England and is part of the Faculty of Health and Medicine at Lancaster University. It is currently the UK's newest public medical school, with its first graduates, a cohort of 31, graduating in 2011.[1] The current head of the medical school is Professor Anne Garden MBE.
History[edit]
LMS admitted its first cohort of students in 2006 and, from September 2006 to July 2013, it delivered the University of Liverpool School of Medicine MBChB degree curriculum to 50 undergraduate students per year. In November 2012, the General Medical Council approved LMS's request to begin delivering its own medical degree independently from the University of Liverpool. Students beginning their studies from September 2013 are registered as Lancaster University students and are awarded a Lancaster University degree.[3]

Curriculum[edit]
The five year MBChB degree is taught using a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum. Whilst the University of Liverpool School of Medicine discontinued PBL as the mainstay of its curriculum in 2014,[4] LMS has retained and updated its own PBL curriculum.[5] LMS Students sit their final examinations at the end of Year 4, which is followed, during the summer, by the Elective (medical) period.[6]

Clinical Placements[edit]
Clinical placements for students in years 2 to 5 are arranged by the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust.[7] As well as the time spent in hospitals (mainly the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and Furness General Hospital in Barrow-in-Furness), students spend around a third of their clinical contact time in the community. Primary care placements are based in general practices across the Cumbria and North Lancashire region, with the North Lancashire Primary Care Trust and the Lancashire Care NHS Trust providing mental health placements.[8] The proportion of time spent in placements ranges from 38% in year 2 to 100% in year 5 [9]

Student Admission[edit]
The current number of places is 54 per year, with 4 places reserved for international (non-EU) students.[10] There are three entry routes into the MBChB degree course; A-level or equivalent qualification, Science undergraduate degree and Access to Medicine course, such as Lancaster University's own Pre-Medical Studies course. LMS introduced the BioMedical Admissions Test (BMAT) for the admission of students starting in September 2016. LMS do not use the UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT).[11]

King's College London

GKT School of Medical Education (abbreviated: GKT) is the medical school of King's College London and one of the United Hospitals. It is the biggest healthcare training facility in Europe.[2] The school has campuses at three institutions, Guy's Hospital (Southwark), King's College Hospital (Lambeth) and St Thomas' Hospital (Lambeth) in London. The school in its current guise was formed following a merger with the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals (GKT) on 1 August 1998.[3]

The medical school as a whole is the largest in Europe. It has an annual intake of around 335 places on the standard MBBS Programme, 50 places on the Extended Medical Degree Programme (EMDP)[4] and 28 places on the Graduate / Professional Entry Programme (GPEP).[5] It receives more applications for medicine than any other UK medical school and as of 2007 applicants were required to sit the UKCAT admission test. The school is ranked 24th in the world by the QS University Rankings (Medicine) 2015.[6] The school is ranked 21st in the UK by the Complete University Guide 2016.
Name[edit]
The School was named the GKT School of Medicine between 1998 and 2005. However, due to confusion over the official name of the institute, especially with regards to research emerging from the university, it was rebranded as the King's College London School of Medicine and Dentistry at Guy's, King's College and St Thomas' Hospitals.

In 2015, to reflect the strong history of the multiple institutions that comprise the medical school, the School once again rebranded as the King’s College London GKT School of Medical Education.[1]

History[edit]
See also: United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals

Owing to St Thomas's Medical School roots that could be traced to St Mary Overie Priory, students' graduation are held at the now Southwark Cathedral[8]

1820 Engraving of Guy's campus entrance by James Elmes and William Woolnoth

The Colonnade, Guy's Campus
The hospitals associated with King's College London GKT School of Medical Education, i.e., Guy's Hospital, King's College Hospital and St Thomas' Hospital (hence the GKT name and abbreviation), are: "amongst the oldest hospitals in the world, having endured the Black Death, the plague, the War of the Roses, the Great Fire of London, the Blitz and over 60 years of NHS reforms."[9]

Of the three hospitals, St Thomas' Hospital is the oldest and was founded in 1173 but whose roots can be traced to the establishment of St Mary Overie Priory in 1106.[10][11][12] Sir Thomas Guy, a governor of St Thomas', founded Guy's Hospital in 1721 as a place to treat 'incurables' discharged from St Thomas'.[13]

St Thomas's Hospital Medical School was founded in 1550 and was sited across St Thomas' Hospital and Guy's Hospital. In 1769 it was decided that Guy's would teach mainly medical subjects, whereas St Thomas' would focus on surgery[14] and the joint teaching institution was generally known as The Borough Hospitals. However, a dispute between the two hospitals regarding the successor to Sir Astley Cooper resulted in Guy's Hospital establishing its own medical school in 1825. After this, students of surgeons attended operations at both hospitals until 1836. A riot between students of the two hospitals broke out in the operating theatre at St. Thomas's in 1836 which ended the arrangement.[15] St Thomas's Hospital Medical School and Guy's Hospital Medical School were two of the oldest and most prestigious medical schools in the UK.

A medical student at Guy's medical school in 1946
In 1982 the two medical schools decided to merge and formed the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals, more commonly known as UMDS. It was enlarged in 1983 when the Royal Dental Hospital of London School of Dental Surgery merged with Guy's Hospital Dental School, and again in 1985 with the addition of the Postgraduate Institute of Dermatology.[16]

Initially students of UMDS were allocated to one of the two campuses, with most preclinical teaching and all clinical teaching being separate. With the intake of 1989, students ceased being allocated in this way, and teaching for all students was divided between the campuses and their peripheral hospitals.

Discussions between King's College London (which had trained medical students since it was established and founded its own hospital, King's College Hospital, in 1840) and UMDS regarding a further merger began in 1992. UMDS was subsequently absorbed into King's College London on 1 August 1998,[3] forming the Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine, more commonly known as GKT.[17] In 2005, the entity was rebranded King's College London School of Medicine and Dentistry at Guy's, King's College and St Thomas' Hospitals, also known as KCLMS. However it is still widely known as GKT amongst current students, graduates and consultants who consider themselves affiliated to the hospitals rather than the university.

In 2005 the dental school became the Dental Institute and the remainder was renamed the King's College School of Medicine. The dean, Robert Lechler, oversees the running of both the Medical and Dental schools, as well as the School of Biomedical Sciences (all three were formerly regarded as GKT before the rebranding).

Before the start of the 2010/11 academic year, Physiotherapy became a part of the School of Medicine, having previously been run by the School of Biomedical and Health Sciences.

Research[edit]

Henriette Raphael House, Guy's Campus
The School's research excellence is recognised worldwide and the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise confirmed King's as one of the top two universities in the UK for health research strength. Around 70 percent of health science submissions from King's were ranked in the top six within the UK.

Currently, the School hosts six MRC Centres,[18]

MRC-Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma
MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology
MRC Centre for Neurodegenerative Research
MRC Centre for Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry
MRC Centre for Transplantation
MRC-HPA Centre for Environment and Health (awarded in 2009[19] in collaboration with Imperial College London)
The two MRC Centres in Transplantation and the Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma in 2008 alone were awarded 'Centre of Excellence' status by the British Heart Foundation with funding of £9 million and a £4 million Breakthrough Breast Cancer Unit was opened in 2009.[20]

The School is also host to its own 'Centre of Medical Law and Ethics', the first of its kind in the UK,[21] and in March 2009, the school was accredited as an Academic health science centre, one of only five in the UK.[22]

Sports teams[edit]
Like other medical schools in the UK, GKT has its own sports teams which compete in various student sports leagues and tournaments.

Like most other universities in London GKT sports teams take part in the BUCS leagues and cups and the University of London Union leagues and cups. The GKT teams also take part in the United Hospitals Cup, which is a sporting competition played between the medical, dental and veterinary schools of London in all sports. The two most popular and biggest of the competitions include the United Hospitals Bumps (rowing) and the men's rugby.

GKT has a fierce sporting rivalry with King's College London. This rivalry led to the founding of the Macadam Cup in 2004, which pits GKT and KCL sports teams against each other.

Keele Medical School

is a medical school based on campus at the Keele University near to Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire, England.

The first two years of the school's MBChB course are taught mainly on Keele University campus although early exposure to patients is of importance and in the second year there is a considerable interaction with the third sector.Years three to five are mainly taught within the Royal Stoke University Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent and the County Hospital (both part of University Hospitals North Midlands Trust), at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust and South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. Medical students also have placements in general practices in Staffordshire and Shropshire.

The school originally accepted about 120 UK/EU and 10 non-EU medical students each year for the 5-year MBChB course and 10 UK/EU/non-EU students for the 6-year course. From 2011 the total accepted increased to about 150 from all sources. This total may vary depending on NHS requirements and funding.
History[edit]
Establishment[edit]
The Royal Commission on Medical Education (1965–68) issued its report (popularly known as the Todd Report) in 1968 on the state of medical education in the United Kingdom. The commission estimated that by 1994 there would be a need to train more than 4,500 doctors a year for the United Kingdom, and that this would have to be achieved by both increasing the numbers of medical students at existing medical schools, and establishing a number of new ones. It recommended that new medical schools should be immediately established at the universities of Nottingham, Southampton and Leicester, but that this would still not produce enough doctors. It considered the possibility of a medical schools being established at Keele University, Hull University, Warwick University and Swansea University (then University College, Swansea). It was considered that North Staffordshire would be a very good site as it had a large local population and several large hospitals. However, it was considered that it would need a minimum intake of 150 students a year would be necessary to make it economically and educationally viable. It was considered that Keele University was at that time too small to support a medical school of this size. However, it was recommended that the hospital rebuilding programme going on at that time, should take account of the possible future establishment of a medical school. The commission envisaged a medical school at Keele between 1975 and 1990.

In 1978, Keele Department of Postgraduate Medicine opened. This department conducted medical research, and played a part in postgraduate medical education, but did not teach undergraduate medical students.

In 2002, over 30 years after the publication of the Todd Report, the current medical school was founded.

Initial teaching[edit]
From 2002 the school began teaching clinical undergraduate medicine to clinical medical students who had completed their pre-clinical medical education at either School of Medicine, University of Manchester or the Bute Medical School (University of St Andrews). These students followed the curriculum of the Manchester School of Medicine clinical course, and after three years of clinical study at Keele, were awarded the degrees of MBChB by the University of Manchester. The first cohort of students completing their course at Keele did so in 2005.

In 2003, Keele started teaching the full five-year course, using the Manchester curriculum. Both pre-clinical and clinical medical education were established in Staffordshire and Shropshire.

Keele began to develop its own undergraduate medical curriculum in 2007.

Current teaching[edit]
From the 2011/12 academic year all students have followed the Keele curriculum. In January 2012 it was announced that the General Medical Council (GMC) had approved and registered the new five-year undergraduate curriculum. Students graduating in 2012 were awarded the Keele MBChB, wearing a new Keele two-colour hood reflecting the fact that students gain two degrees Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. Previously medical students at Keele have graduated with a Manchester degree. The GMC visited and scrutinised progress throughout the course’s development.[2]

Keele's curriculum is integrated, with clinical experience and skills being taught in years one and two, and weekly science teaching in year three. A small number of graduate entry places are available for year two of the course and there is a six-year option for applicants with non-science qualifications. From 2006, applicants have been required to sit the UKCAT admission test.

Years 1 and 2 teaching takes place on Keele University campus. Clinical teaching, years 3–5, takes place at the Royal Stoke University Hospital site, in Hartshill. Teaching at Keele also involves attachments at District General hospitals in Stafford, Shrewsbury and Telford, as well as attachments to General Practitioners (GP) in Staffordshire and Shropshire.

On-line learning[edit]
Keele Medical School promotes the use of online learning material, such as Keele Basic Bites, which is a free online video-based learning tool for Keele University Medical students, created by senior academic staff, providing medical education in an entertaining, as well as an informative fashion.

Keele Medical Society[edit]
Keele medical students formed the Keele Medical Society (KMS) in 2005. The organisation aims to represent students and promote social inclusion.

Current developments[edit]
In August 2013 £2.8m state-of-the-art Anatomy Skills Facility was completed. The school joins a select group of institutions offering leading edge facilities to attract surgeons from across the UK. It will also provide improved facilities for students and also offer senior surgeons the chance to improve high level skills.[3]

Ranking[edit]
The school was ranked 14= out of the UK's 30 medical schools in The Sunday Times University Guide 2015 with a student satisfaction score of 94%.[4] The school was ranked 10th out of the 34 medical schools in the UK in 2016 by the Complete University Guide.[5]

See also[edit]
Medical education in the United Kingdom
List of medical schools in the United Kingdom
Medical school in the United Kingdom
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "Would-be doctors told to be engineers instead: Bright students 'should consider a degree in something other than medicine because of huge demand for places'". Daily Mail. 18 May 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
Jump up ^ A new Keele degree Keele press release 17 January 2012 accessed 19 January 2012
Jump up ^ "New £2.8m State if the Art Development for School of Medicine" – Keele University press release 1 Feb 2013, accessed 10 Feb 2013
Jump up ^ "The Good University Guide 2015". The Sunday Times (London). 2014. Retrieved 2014-09-21.
Jump up ^ "Complete University Guide: University Subject Tables 2016 - Medicine". Keele. 9 November 2016.

Imperial College School of Medicine

(ICSM) is the medical school of Imperial College London in England, and one of the United Hospitals.

The School was formed in 1997 through the merger of several historic medical schools, and has core campuses at South Kensington, St Mary's Hospital, London, Charing Cross Hospital, Hammersmith Hospital and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

The School is ranked fifth in the world and third in the UK in the 2015 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.[1] It is ranked 8th in the UK by the Guardian University Guide 2014 [2] and 5th in the UK by the 2016 Complete University Guide.[3] It was ranked 2nd in the UK for research in the latest RAE in 2008, behind the University of Edinburgh Medical School.

The School is especially known for its heart and lung transplant surgery skills led by Sir Magdi Yacoub, rheumatology treatments by Sir Marc Feldmann, and recent robot-assisted surgery techniques by world leading surgeon
History[edit]
Main article: Timeline of Imperial College School of Medicine
Imperial College London first gained a medical school by merger with St Mary's Medical School in 1988. The current School of Medicine was formed in 1997 by the merger of St Mary's Medical School with Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School (formerly Charing Cross Hospital Medical School and Westminster Hospital Medical School), the Royal Postgraduate Medical School and the National Heart and Lung Institute.

Organisation[edit]
Imperial College School of Medicine is organised into six sections: Institute of Clinical Sciences, School of Public Health, Department of Medicine, Department of Surgery & Cancer, National Heart and Lung Institute, and the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology.[5]

Unlike several other medical schools in the UK which are part of a Life Sciences Department or similar, ICSM belongs to its own Faculty of Medicine. Furthermore, the school runs a number of courses besides the standard MBBS degree programme. These include the Imperial College MPH Programme. Teaching hospitals of the School are part of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, which was formed in 2007 and is the UK's first academic health science centre. All undergraduate students within the Faculty of Medicine (including Biomedical Science and Pharmacology BScs) are supported by the Imperial College School of Medicine Students' Union. The Faculty of Medicine also offers postgraduate MSc, MRes and PhD programmes, but these fall under the Graduate School of Life Sciences and Medicine, not the School of Medicine.

Campuses and associated hospitals[edit]
The School's teaching campuses include:

Undergraduate campus
South Kensington campus - Sir Alexander Fleming Building
Charing Cross Hospital campus - The Reynolds Building
Hammersmith Hospital campus - Wolfson Education Centre
Main teaching hospitals
Charing Cross Hospital
St Mary's Hospital
Chelsea & Westminster Hospital
Hammersmith Hospital
Students in the 1st and 2nd years as well as those on the BSc courses attend lectures and labs mainly at the main campuses. Parts of the 4th year, as well as other clinical modules are also held at the postgraduate hospitals, where much of the School's research is based:

Postgraduate hospitals
Royal Brompton Hospital
Harefield Hospital
Queen Charlotte's & Chelsea Hospital
Western Eye Hospital
District general hospitals
Ashford Hospital
Central Middlesex Hospital
Ealing Hospital
Hillingdon Hospital
Mount Vernon Hospital
Northwick Park Hospital
St. Mark's Hospital
West Middlesex Hospital
St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey
Mental health hospitals
St. Bernard's Hospital
St.Charles' Hospital
Three Bridges Medium Secure Unit
Gordon Hospital
Broadmoor Hospital
Cassel Hospital
Clinical attachments and teaching in years 2 (three weeks), 3 (30 weeks), 5 and 6 (all year) are held at these hospitals. These hospitals also have small research divisions which are part of the Imperial College Faculty of Medicine.

Undergraduate courses[edit]
The school accepts approximately 290 school leavers as medical undergraduates each year (including 21 from outside the EU) for a six-year course leading to the award of an MBBS and BSc. Fifty graduates (including ten from outside the EU) are accepted for the four-year course that leads to the MBBS.

Entry is highly competitive with applicants requiring AAAb at A-level, with chemistry and/or biology required at A-level. A 2:1 degree and/or PhD in a biological subject is required for graduate entry. Furthermore, the BMAT is required for entry to the six-year course and the UKCAT for the four-year course, as well as an interview. For 2008 entry, there were approximately 3,000 applicants for the six-year and 500 for the four-year course. However, medical students from other institutions may also join various portions of the course.

The school runs four undergraduate courses.[6]

Six-year MBBS/BSc[edit]
Teaching in the first two years is focused on the scientific basis of medicine with study focussing on a systems-based format, moving towards integrated disease and including clinical aspects later on. It also includes communication skills, medical ethics and law. Teaching comprises lectures, clinical demonstrations, tutorials, dissection, computer workshops, laboratory practical and clinical skills classes, independent study, and some problem-based learning.

Clinical experience in first year is provided by a patient contact course and in the second year with a three-week attachment in general medicine or surgery at one of the attached teaching hospitals.

Third year consists of three ten-week attachments in general medicine and surgery. Teaching consists of in-hospital clinical teaching, problem based learning within firms and a lecture programme delivered at one of the central teaching sites and via the faculty intranet. This year also consists of a 3-week background to clinical specialties course.

Fourth year involves study for the BSc, comprising 3 5-week modules then a 10-week supervised research project or specialist course, leading to a BSc (Hons) in Medical Sciences with one of the following: Cardiovascular sciences; Endocrinology; Gastroenterology and hepatology; Haematology; Immunity and infection; Management; Neuroscience and mental health; Reproductive and developmental sciences; Respiratory science; Surgery and anaesthesia. The following specialist courses are available instead of undertaking a research project: Medical humanities, History of medicine, Epidemiology and international health. BSc courses that have available places after the allocation of Imperial students are open to medical students from other universities who wish to intercalate.

Fifth year covers the specialties of obstetrics and gynaecology, radiology, paediatrics, psychiatry, oncology, general practice, critical care, infectious diseases, dermatology, rheumatology and orthopaedics through clinical attachments. It includes a 4-week course in clinical pathology at the start of the year and a one-week teaching skills course.

Final year consists of seven three-week clinical attachments in accident and emergency medicine; general practice; cardiology and radiology; ear, nose and throat, ophthalmology and renal medicine; two professional work experience attachments (one in medicine and one in surgery); one specialty choice module; an eight-week elective period which may be spent in the UK or overseas, and a practical medicine course, which provides specific preparation for the foundation year after graduation.[7]

Oxbridge entry[edit]
Historically, all Oxbridge students completed their clinical training at one of the London medical schools. Although those universities now have their own clinical schools, Imperial accepts students who have completed the first three pre-clinical years at the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge. Oxbridge students join the third year of the undergraduate course. This begins with a 10-week attachment to bring their clinical experience into line with that of other Imperial students, then joining the rest of the undergraduate year for two further 10 week attachment. After this, they progress to the fifth and sixth years of the standard course.[8]

Five-year graduate-entry MBBS[edit]
Despite only accepting graduates, this is still considered an undergraduate course. The first year is an accelerated programme, which is designed to bring students to the same level as someone who has completed Years 1 and 2 of the 6-year course. The second, third and fourth years of the graduate-entry course correspond to the third, fifth and final years of the six-year course respectively.[9]

Biomedical Science[edit]
The school offers a 3-year BSc degree which first commenced in 2006 and accepts 50 students per year. Although a four-year undergraduate Master's (MSci) was initially offered, students would not have been awarded the BSc. In 2008, the MSci was withdrawn and instead, students who achieve a 2:1 average by their second year will be guaranteed a place on one of the school's MSc taught courses, thus obtaining a BSc and an MSc in four years to comply with the Bologna process. From 2006-2012, the course was taught in conjunction with the School of Life Sciences, though from 2013 onwards the course has been fully absorbed into the School of Medicine.

The entry requirements are identical to those required for the MBBS course: AAAb at A-level/38 with 667 HL for the International Baccalaureate and the BMAT test.

In the first year, students are initially taught introductory modules for cellular and molecular biology, along with genetics, with their MBBS counterparts. This is then followed by a variety of modules based on human anatomy and system physiology in the second and third terms, taught independently from the MBBS students (though sharing considerable similarity in content). Students are also given teaching on basic laboratory techniques and "transferrable skills" sessions which aim to develop a more comprehensive skillset.

In the second year, students again follow the 2nd year of the Biology degree completing the Applied Molecular Biology, Immunology, Genetics or Parasitology, Tutored Dissertation and compulsory humanities modules. However, instead of the animal, plant and microbiological modules of the biology degree, students attend the newly developed Human Pathophysiology and Disease course which comprises basic pharmacology (from medicine year 2), ethics, epidemiology, radiology, cancer and other human diseases.

In the third year, students take one of the BSc modules from Year 4 of the medical course, followed by a research project. These modules (including Management) may be combined with or replaced by modules from Biology and Biochemistry degrees.[10]

Student life[edit]
ICSM Students' Union[edit]
Main article: Imperial College School of Medicine Students' Union
In contrast to other British universities where medical students may merely be part of a "Medsoc", the School of Medicine has its own complete union. Imperial College School of Medicine Students' Union is a subsidiary part of Imperial College Union, and medical and BSc students are members of both. As such, they may join any of the 300 ICU clubs and societies and take up positions of responsibility in them. However, over 40 of these clubs and societies are under the direct jurisdiction of ICSMSU. Further, the medical students' union also owns the Reynolds building at the Charing Cross Hospital campus, as medical students live or spend more time around that area than the South Kensington campus. The Reynolds Bar represents the heart and soul of ICSM, and regularly plays host to themed parties or "Bops". It also fulfils the role of a normal student bar, where medical students can congregate and socialise whilst enjoying the occasional pint at a lower price than the average London pub.

Shrove Tuesday Final Year Dinner[edit]
The Shrove Tuesday Dinner started in 1940 during the Blitz at the old Westminster Hospital Medical School. Students and house staff decided to have dinner to alleviate the oppressive mood. A senior member of staff was invited to address the assembled doctors and whilst he was talking a caricature was sketched on the tablecloth by one of his audience. It was cut out, passed round, signed and mounted and started the unbroken tradition that has evolved into the Shrove Tuesday Final Year Dinner that has continued even after the amalgamation of Westminster Hospital Medical School into Charing Cross Hospital Medical School and then Imperial College School of Medicine.

The event is held in March every year and it is a chance to look back on the last six years before finalists put their heads down for finals revision. The dinner is specifically for the year but other doctors and friends are allowed to attend the after-dinner festivities. So the dinner is quite unique as it is very intimate with just final years and has very quirky traditions such as the caricature (all of which are displayed in the basement of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital), and more recently, the music video, in which the professors send up a popular song.

Alumni associations[edit]
The ICSM Alumni Association was founded in 2004 with the graduation of the first cohort of ICSM doctors.[11] Still in its infancy, it is jointly run with help from ICSMSU and members of the alumni. The association aims to provide funding for the clubs and societies of the medical school, as well as offer support to students.

Two other alumni associations also exist for graduates of the original medical schools - the St Mary's Association and the Charing Cross and Westminster Alumni.

Notable staff and alumni[edit]
The list below, including five Nobel Laureates in Physiology and Medicine, shows the notable past or current staff and alumni from Imperial College School of Medicine or from the various institutions which are now part of it.

Viscount Christopher Addison (Ex Leader of the House of Lords, Ex Minister for Health) Charing Cross Hospital
Dr N.H. Ashton (ophthalmologist, Buchanan medalist)
Sir Ernst Chain (Nobel Laureate, Physiology and Medicine)
Lord Ara Darzi (Baron Darzi of Denham, Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Leading Surgeon) St Mary's Hospital
Professor Carl Djerassi (chemist; first oral contraceptive pill progestin norethindrone)
Professor Harold Ellis (surgeon and anatomist) Westminster Hospital
Sir Joseph Fayrer (physician noted for his writings on medicine in India)
Sir Marc Feldmann (expert on rheumatology) Kennedy Institute / Charing Cross Hospital
Sir Alexander Fleming (Nobel Laureate, Physiology and Medicine) St Mary's Hospital
Sir Malcolm Green (inorganic chemist)
Professor John Henry (clinical toxicologist who did crucial work on poisoning and drug overdose) St Mary's Hospital
Sir Frederick Hopkins (Nobel Laureate, Physiology and Medicine)
Dame Rosalind Hurley (medical microbiologist, researcher, and ethicist)
Sir Andrew Huxley (Nobel Laureate, Physiology and Medicine)
Professor Thomas Huxley (notable biologist) Charing Cross Hospital
Dr W Hyde-Salter (characterised Asthma) Charing Cross Hospital
Sir Bruce Keogh (medical director of the National Health Service)
Dame Louise Lake-Tack, Governor-General of Antigua and Barbuda Charing Cross Hospital
Dr David Livingstone (congregationalist pioneer medical missionary in South Africa) Charing Cross Hospital
Sir Ravinder Nath Maini (expert on Rheumatology) Kennedy Institute/Charing Cross Hospital
Professor Christine Moffatt (nurse in leg ulcer care) Charing Cross Hospital
Professor Albert Neuberger (chemical pathologist) St Mary's Hospital
Professor William Kitchen Parker (physician and zoologist) Charing Cross Hospital
Sir William Stanley Peart (Buchanan Medalist) St Mary's Hospital
Dame Julia Polak (tissue engineer)
Sir Rodney Robert Porter (Nobel Laureate, Physiology and Medicine)
Lady Ann Redgrave (orthopaedic surgery, ex Chief Medical Officer of GB Rowing) Charing Cross Hospital
Sir Bernard Spilsbury (pathologist and one of the pioneers of modern forensic medicine)
Baroness Edith Summerskill (Politician) Charing Cross Hospital
Dr Joseph Toynbee (otologist) St Mary's Hospital
Dr Augustus Waller (the invention of the electrocardiogram (ECG))
Sir Almroth Wright (advanced vaccination through the use of autogenous vaccines) St Mary's Hospital
Sir Magdi Yacoub (expert cardiothoracic surgeon)
Sir Roger Bannister (neurologist, runner of the first four-minute mile) St Mary's Hospital
Dr Jane Yardley, (author) Charing Cross Hospital

The Hull York Medical School

The Hull York Medical School (HYMS) is a medical school in England which took its first intake of students in 2003. The school was opened as a part of the British Government's attempts (under the Labour Party) to train more doctors, which also saw Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Peninsula Medical School and University of East Anglia Medical School open their doors
History[edit]
The early history of medical education in Hull and York goes back to the three following institutions: Hull Medical School (1831), York Medical Society(1832) and the York Medical School (1834).[1] Notable doctors associated with the York school included John Hughlings Jackson (in whose honour the modern medical school building at the University of York is named), Daniel Hack Tuke, Thomas Laycock (physiologist), James Atkinson (surgeon), and Sir Jonathan Hutchinson. It is thought that the York school closed in the 1860s.

The founding of a medical school as part of the University of Hull was considered in the Report of the Royal Commission on Medical Education 1965–68 (Todd Report) (published 1968), but the idea was thought not to be viable until the Humber Bridge was completed, as this would enable students to travel to placements in South Lincolnshire.

Teaching[edit]
The medical school admits 140 students each year. Around 1,000 applied for 2013 entry.[2] Of the successful applicants each year, half are based at the University of Hull and the other half are based at the University of York for the first two years of their course. In 2014, HYMS was ranked 20th in the UK by the Guardian University Subject Guide and 27th in the UK by the Complete University Guide 2014. As of 2006 applicants have been required to sit the UKCAT admissions test. Information about the test and preparation can be found at UKCAT.

The course has had, in the past, a high proportion of mature students when compared to other medical courses. The 2005 intake had 44 mature students spread over both Hull and York universities, a higher number than in most medical schools.

Students spend the two years in phase one at their academic bases (either Hull or York). Phase two consists of rotation around York, Hull, Scunthorpe, Grimsby and Scarborough. In the final year of the course (phase three), students essentially take on the role of a 'junior' pre-registration house officer and are also able to carry out an 'elective' period overseas. This is a common feature in most UK medical curricula. The school's first international students began their studies in September 2006.
List of Deans[edit]
Professor William Gillespie OBE (2003–2007)
Professor Ian Greer (2007–2010)
Professor Tony Kendrick (2010–2013)
Professor Trevor Sheldon (Dean from November 2013)
Staff[edit]
Professor John Lee, professor of Clinical Pathology was a co-presenter on Anatomy for Beginners (screened in the UK on Channel 4 in 2005) in which he explained the dissections of Gunther von Hagens. He co-presented a second series with von Hagens in 2006 called Autopsy: Life and Death (Channel 4, 2006).

School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge

The School of Clinical Medicine is the medical school of the University of Cambridge in England. According to the QS World University Rankings 2013, it ranks as the 3rd best medical school in the world.[1] The school is co-located with Addenbrooke's Hospital on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
The Clinical School[edit]
Students from Cambridge University can enter the clinical school on completion of three years of pre-clinical training and a further interviewing process. Applicants from outside Cambridge University are also invited to apply providing they meet the entry requirements. Approximately half the medical students leave Cambridge after their pre-clinical studies as there are not enough places on the clinical course for them all. Common destinations include the Oxford, London and Manchester medical schools.

Approximately half the clinical medical training in Cambridge takes place at the School of Clinical Medicine located on the Addenbrooke's Hospital site. The Clinical School was established in 1976 when construction of the new Addenbrooke's building was underway. The opening of the Clinical School meant the beginning of a completely new medical course at Cambridge University. The clinical course was restructured in 2005 with the addition of a new final year, as the clinical course had previously been less than three years in length.

As of 2008 the medical school accepts some 260 British medical students each year and an additional 20 candidates from overseas. The clinical school accepts some 145 students.

Entry requirements[edit]
Entry to the Clinical school requires a degree in pre-clinical medicine, obtained at either Cambridge, Oxford or St Andrews. Students from London and Manchester medical schools are admitted occasionally.

Departments[edit]
Clinical Biochemistry
Clinical Neurosciences
Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair
Neurology Unit
Neurosurgery
Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre
Haematology
Transfusion Medicine
Diagnostics Development Unit
Medical Genetics
Medicine
Anaesthesia
Clinical Pharmacology
Obstetics and Gynaecology
Oncology
Paediatrics
Brain Mapping Unit
Development Psychiatry
Public Health and Primary Care
The Primary Care Unit
Clinical Gerontology
Radiology
Surgery
Orthopaedic Research
Institutes[edit]
Institute of Metabolic Science (IMS-MRL)
Cambridge Institute for Medical Research (CIMR)
Institute of Public Health
Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute
Support services[edit]
Central Biomedical Services
Clinical School Computing Services
Clinical School Workshops
Alumni[edit]
David Owen, British politician, Foreign Secretary (1977-1979), Chancellor of the University of Liverpool
See also[edit]
Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Addenbrooke's Hospital
Cambridge Medical School building
Imperial College School of Medicine
School of Medicine, University of Manchester
UCL Medical School.

Brighton and Sussex Medical School

The University of Brighton is a UK university of 20,700 students and 2,500 staff based on five campuses in Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1859 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Brighton Royal Pavilion.

The university focuses on professional education, with the majority of degrees awarded also leading to professional qualifications in areas including Pharmacy, Engineering and Information Technology.

In 2012 the University of Brighton came third in the People & Planet's Green League table of UK universities ranked by environmental and ethical performance.[5]
History[edit]

This section is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (September 2013)

Brighton School of Art opened its doors to more than fifty pupils and was situated in a room off the kitchens of the Royal Pavilion
1859: The Brighton School of Art opens its doors to its first 110 students. The school's first home is in rooms adjacent to the kitchens of the Royal Pavilion.
1876: The School of Art moves to its own building in Grand Parade. The Prime Minister, William Gladstone, witnesses the laying of the new building's foundation stone.
1897: The Municipal School of Science and Technology opens in Brighton with 600 enrolled students.
1898: The Chelsea School opens in London as an institution training women and girls in physical education.
1909: The Municipal Day Training College, forerunner of the School of Education, opens in Richmond Terrace, Brighton.
1949: The Chelsea School celebrates its fiftieth anniversary by moving to Eastbourne.
1960s: Construction of new buildings for Brighton College of Technology begin in Moulsecoomb.
1970: The School of Art and Brighton College of Technology merge to form Brighton Polytechnic.
1976: Brighton College of Education (the teacher training college) merges with Brighton Polytechnic, giving the polytechnic a campus at Falmer.
1979: The East Sussex College of Higher Education, including the Chelsea School, merges with Brighton Polytechnic, creating a campus in Eastbourne.
1992: Along with many other polytechnics Brighton is granted university status and becomes the University of Brighton under the provisions of the Further and Higher Education Act, 1992.
1994: The Sussex and Kent Institute of Nursing and Midwifery becomes part of the university, increasing the number of students based in Eastbourne.
2003: The Brighton and Sussex Medical School opens as a partnership between the University of Brighton, the University of Sussex and the Universities Hospitals Trust. It is the first medical school in the south-east outside London.
2004: University Centre Hastings is opened, managed by the University of Brighton.[6]
2011: The University of Brighton's International College opens on the Brighton campus, to provide international students with preparatory academic tuition for undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
2011: The University of Brighton Doctoral College was launched to support postgraduate research students. Dedicated research study centres are established on the Eastbourne and each of the three Brighton campuses.[7]
Campuses and facilities[edit]
The university has five campuses. Three in Brighton; at Grand Parade, Moulsecoomb, and Falmer, and one in Eastbourne and one in Hastings.[8]

Grand Parade, Brighton[edit]
Grand Parade campus in Brighton city centre is home to the Faculty of Arts, the University of Brighton gallery and Sallis Benney Theatre.[9] The faculty's archives include the University of Brighton Design Archives, which houses collections from the Design Council and a range of other British and global design organisations, and the moving image archive Screen Archive South East.[10] Staff and students have access to the specialist humanities, art and design library at St Peter's House, computer pool rooms, a media centre, a restaurant and cafe.[9] The School of Architecture and Design, Schools of Arts and Media and School of Humanities are based at Grand Parade.[9]

Phoenix halls of residence provide accommodation for 298 students.[9]

Falmer, Brighton[edit]

The Checkland Building at Falmer campus opened in 2009
The Falmer campus is located approximately three miles from Brighton city centre. The Faculty of Arts (Literature, Language and Linguistics), Faculty of Health and Social Science, Faculty of Education and Sport, School of Nursing and Midwifery, School of Applied Social Science, Centre for Nursing and Midwifery Research, International Health Development and Research Centre, Social Science Policy and Research Centre, School of Education, Education Research Centre, the Centre for Learning and Teaching and the Brighton and Sussex Medical School are all based on this campus.

The campus is served by a number of bus services[11] and Falmer railway station is immediately adjacent. There are also cycle lanes leading to the campus from the city centre. The campus is adjacent to the new Falmer Stadium, home to Brighton & Hove Albion F.C., which opened in 2011.

The campus includes the Great Wilkins and Paddock Field halls of residence.[12] Other facilities on the Falmer campus include a library, computer pool rooms, a restaurant and café/bar, a Students' Union cafe and a shop. Sports facilities on the campus include floodlit 3G AstroTurf pitch, netball and tennis courts, and a new sports centre which opened in October 2010. The new sports centre includes a fitness suite, two activity studios and a sports hall with six badminton courts.[13]

Student services on the Falmer campus include a careers service, counselling service, student advice service, disability and dyslexia service and chaplaincy.

Moulsecoomb, Brighton[edit]
The Moulescoomb campus is located to the north of Brighton city centre. It is the largest of the five campuses with over 8,000 students.[14] Brighton Business School, School of Architecture and Design (architecture and interior design courses), School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, School of Environment and Technology and School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences are based on Moulsecoomb campus. The University of Brighton's International College is located in the Watts building.

Facilities include Aldrich library, computer pool rooms, two restaurants and five cafes. Moulsecoomb Place halls of residence provide accommodation for 160 students. The campus is served well by bus services[11] and Moulsecoomb Station.

Eastbourne[edit]
The Eastbourne campus (also known as the Theatre of Dreams) is located at the foot of the South Downs National Park, about ten minutes walk from the seafront and twenty minutes from the pier and Eastbourne town centre. Almost 3,000 students are based here studying at The School of Sport and Service Management, School of Health Professions and The School of Nursing and Midwifery.[15]

Teaching and learning facilities at Eastbourne campus include exercise physiology laboratories, an environmental chamber, a human movement laboratory, culinary arts studio and the Leaf Hospital podiatry and physiotherapy clinic.[15] Study facilities in Eastbourne include Queenswood library, computer pool rooms, a learning technologies suite, restaurants, and a Students' Union shop. Sports facilities include a 25-metre swimming pool, sports hall, artificial outdoor pitch and dance studio.

Welkin halls of residence provides accommodation for over 350 students. The campus is served by a number of bus services and is in walking distance of Eastbourne railway station. Bike storage is provided on campus.

Hastings[edit]
The University of Brighton campus in Hastings is three minutes south of the station and about the same distance from the seafront and the shopping district. Students study applied social science, broadcast media, business and management, community history, computing, education, English literature, environmental biology, human biology, mathematics, media studies and sociology.[16]

Campus facilities include TV and radio studios, a library, computer pool rooms, a cafe and a Students' Union office. The university's student-run radio station, Burst Radio, is based on the Hastings campus.

Robert Tressell Halls provide accommodation for 65 students. The Priory Square building opened in 2012 and provides a 160 seat lecture theatre and a suite of laboratories for science courses.[17] The Priory Square building was formally opened on Monday 2 December 2013.[18]

Libraries[edit]
The university's libraries (with 1,400 work places) contain over half a million books, journals and audio-visual materials and, additionally, have subscriptions to around 8,000 electronic journals. In a year, there are around one million loans – and, on an average day, over 6000 student visits. Combined, the university's libraries are open for 250 hours per week, with each library typically open between 55 and 68 hours per week, including evenings and weekends.[19] The university has six libraries spread around its campuses.

Bristol Medical School

Bristol Medical School was originally a medical institution in England which existed from 1833 to 1893. It later became amalgamated with University College, Bristol the predecessor institution to the University of Bristol
History[edit]
It was built in order to give training to those who worked on the wards of Bristol Infirmary (founded 1737), the Clifton Dispensary (founded 1812) and the General Hospital (founded 1832). In 1873 due to poverty and poor building infrastructure the Medical School sought Association with the Bristol Library Society and the Bristol Institution for the advancement of Science, Literature and the Arts. The Library and the Museum were promoters of the scheme for a College of Science which John Percival and Benjamin Jowett were able to translate into University College, Bristol.

During this time the Medical School was hampered by a political split with the Infirmary Conservative and the General Hospital Liberal which for some time damaged the development of the hospital.

An agreement to affiliate with University College, Bristol was agreed in 1879 and amalgamation finally took place in 1893.

Present-day[edit]
As of 2008 the medical school accepts some 216 home students and a further 19 from overseas.[1]

The 5-year MB ChB degree is offered. Students may study an additional year if they opt to do the additional BSc degree jointly with the MB ChB.

University of Birmingham Medical School

The University of Birmingham Medical School is one of Britain's largest and oldest medical schools with over: 400 Medics, 70 Pharmacists, 90 Biomedical Science students and 100 Nurses graduating each year.[2] It is based at the University of Birmingham in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. Since 2008, and following a departmental restructure, the school became an entity within The College of Medical and Dental Sciences.

History[edit]

The roots of the Birmingham Medical School were in the medical education seminars of Mr. John Tomlinson, first surgeon to the Birmingham Workhouse Infirmary and later to the General Hospital. These classes were the first held in the winter of 1767–68. The first clinical teaching was undertaken by medical and surgical apprentices at the General Hospital, opened in 1779.[1] Birmingham Medical School was founded in 1825 by William Sands Cox, who began by teaching medical students in his father's house in Birmingham. A new building was used from 1829 (on the site of what is now Snow Hill Station). Students at this time took the licentiate/membership examinations of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries.

In 1836, Earl Howe and a number of prominent local men submitted a memorandum to King William IV and on June 22, a reply communicated His Majesty’s acquiescence to become a Patron of the School to be styled the Royal School of Medicine and Surgery in Birmingham. There was serious need for a new teaching hospital and in 1839 Sands Cox launched an appeal. Sufficient money was raised within a year and the hospital built in 1840–41 was opened in 1841 by Sands Cox.

Queen Victoria who had granted her patronage to the Clinical Hospital in Birmingham also allowed the new teaching hospital to be styled "The Queen’s Hospital." In 1843, the medical school became Queen's College, and students became eligible to be considered for medical degrees awarded by the University of London.[3]

A rival medical school, Syndenham College opened in Birmingham in 1851. This merged with Queen's College in 1868 to form a new combined institution, and later merged with another institution, Mason Science College. In 1897, the Mason University College Act was passed which made Mason Science College (incorporating Queen's College) into a university college, and this, in turn, became Birmingham University in 1900, and MB ChB degrees were able to be awarded by the new university.

Janet Parker, the last person to die of smallpox in the world in 1978, contracted the disease while working as medical photographer in the anatomy department.

Facilities[edit]

The Medical School is now housed within a building on the University of Birmingham campus in a building constructed in 1938. The Medical School was extended to a design by Scott Wilson and constructed by Architects Design Partnership. The scheme cost £8 million and consisted of a 450-seat lecture theatre and student catering facilities.[4]

In 2013 the university invested £4.5 million in the creation of a new School of Pharmacy. The school is currently located in the Robert Aitken Institute of Clinical Research to the side of the main medical school building. The Pharmacy building contains: a state of the art pharmaceutics lab, separate tablet making lab, a level 3 microbiology lab and clean room, aseptics lab, e-Lab / electronic prescribing lab complete with drugs safe, clinical examination rooms a JCR and advanced library. The pharmacy school is linked via a controlled access corridor to Birmingham Old Hospital.

In October 2008, the medical school opened a new prosectorium to its students which cost in the region of £500,000 to build.

University of Birmingham students of medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing and physiotherapy have access to special clinical works within the Barnes Library and computer cluster within the medical school building. With the restructure of the university all these schools now come under the umbrella of the College of Medical and Dental Sciences.

Courses and admission[edit]

The medical school remains extremely competitive with entry requirements set very high. For the 5 year medicine course potential students are expected to have a minimum of 7 A* grades at GCSE as well as straight A predictions for A level examinations. Although these are minimum requirements, the medical school often increases its GCSE expectations. The typical offer was also increased to AAA for 2010 entry. Requirements for 2013 entry then became A*AA at A Level and A*s in English, Maths and Science GCSEs instead. Candidates are also expected to perform well at interview.

Dentistry at Birmingham often receives many applications for each place available. With few spaces on the course, it is extremely competitive and candidates are expected to perform excellently at interview.

Pharmacy admissions accepted the first intake of students in August 2013, in the first year alone 1007 applicants applied for 70 available places. Requirements for current entry remain at AAA at A Level and A's in Maths and Science GCSEs. All candidates are interviewed before offers are made and are expected to perform well.

The Medical School runs a variety of undergraduate medical degree (MBChB) courses. There is both the five-year programme along with a four-year graduate entry course (GEC). In addition there are a small number of places on a 3-year programme allocated to dental graduates aiming for careers in Oral Medicine or Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

The School also offers a bachelor's degree in Medical Science (BMedSc) leading to further study at postgraduate level. Medical and Pharmacy students may also intercalate to the final year of the BMedSc course to attain an additional degree within their 3rd year.

The College of Health Sciences at the University of Zimbabwe was modelled after the Birmingham Medical School. The two hence share and enjoy a special relationship.

Medical Society (Birmingham MedSoc)[edit]

Students of Birmingham Medical School, more specifically The College of Medical and Dental Sciences, are entitled to be part of Birmingham Medical Society; one of the largest MedSocs in the United Kingdom, and the largest society at the University of Birmingham. Birmingham MedSoc is co-ordinated by an elected committee which changes each academic year, around the month of January. MedSoc contains a huge number of subsidiary sports, societies and charities, which all run themselves largely independently. In terms of sports, the largest clubs are the University of Birmingham Medical School Hockey Club (UBMSHC) and the University of Birmingham Medical School Rugby Football Club (UBMSRFC), but there are many sports clubs to choose from, including football, squash, tennis, swimming and skiing. Societies include the annual comedy show the Comedy Revue, Birmingham Medical Leadership Society and Wilderness Medicine, which organises outdoors trips, most recently the 'Three peaks challenge'. MedSoc also supports a number of charities, for example Marrow and Medecins sans Frontières. Membership costs £8 per year as of 2015, so a Medical Science student (3 years) would pay £24, whereas a Medicine student (5 years) would pay £40.[5]

London School of Medicine

Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry is a medical and dental school.[1] The school was formed in 1995 by the merger of the London Hospital Medical College (the first school to be granted an official charter for medical teaching in 1785) and the Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital (the oldest remaining hospital in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1123, with medical teaching beginning from that date) and Queen Mary and Westfield College.

The school exists on two main sites, having a presence at the site of both of the former colleges at and near their respective hospitals, St Bartholomew's Hospital (in Smithfield, City of London and nearby in Charterhouse Square), and the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, Tower Hamlets with an additional site at Queen Mary's main (Mile End) campus.[2] A new building (Blizard Building), named after the founder of The London Hospital Medical College, Sir William Blizard, was recently completed at the Royal London site, and houses research laboratories and is the main site for medical undergraduate teaching.

In the 2008 government Research Assessment Exercise, the school was ranked first for the quality of its medical research in London and fourth overall nationally; the dental school was ranked joint first. As of 2008 the school accepted 277 British medical students per annum and an additional 17 from overseas, making it one of the largest medical schools in the United Kingdom.[3] The medical school is part of Queen Mary University of London, a constituent college of the federal University of London, and a member of the United Hospitals.[4

History[edit]

Part of the Charterhouse Square site
St Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry was formed in 1995 by a merger of St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College and the London Hospital Medical College with Queen Mary and Westfield College, now known as Queen Mary University of London.

The Medical College at the Royal London Hospital, England's first official medical school, opened in 1785, pioneering a new kind of medical education, with an emphasis on theoretical and clinical teaching. A purpose-built lecture theatre was constructed at St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1791 and in 1822 the Governors approved the provision of medical education within the hospital. Later a residential college was established, which moved to premises at Charterhouse Square in the 1930s. At the Royal London, larger premises, still in use by the medical school, were built in Turner Street in 1854. In 1900 both medical colleges became constituent colleges of the University of London in the Faculty of Medicine.

The Dental School opened at the London in 1911, acquiring the new Dental Institute and expanding student numbers during the 1960s. Dental education developed during the 1970s, increasing collaboration between dentists and other professionals.

Between the Wars, students at the Royal London requiring a prerequisite MB (in biology, chemistry and physics) attended Queen Mary College for a year, before proceeding to a second MB at the London. Women students were first admitted to both colleges following World War II.

A close association between the two medical colleges was developed following the Royal Commission on Medical Education in 1968, and new links with the then Queen Mary College were established at the same time. In 1989 the pre-clinical teaching at the two medical colleges was merged and sited in the Basic Medical Sciences Building at Queen Mary (where it stayed until 2005, when it was moved to the Blizard Building at the Whitechapel campus). In 1992, St. Bartholomew's, the Royal London and the London Chest Hospital joined to form the Barts and The London NHS Trust, with a full merger of the medical colleges with Queen Mary taking place three years later.

On 2 March 2011, it was announced that Professor Richard Trembath would succeed Professor Sir Nicholas Wright as Warden of the School in Summer 2011.[5]

Research[edit]
The school serves a diverse population in East London and the wider Thames Gateway, with the differing demographics of East London in contrast to other areas of the country providing the school with a unique teaching opportunity. Consequently, many of the school's research efforts are focussed on conditions that are prevalent or endemic to the local area, for example, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, tuberculosis and other chronic lung diseases, HIV, oral disease, and cancer.

St. Bartholomew's Hospital is a recognised area of excellence in the fields of cardiovascular and cancer research, whereas the Royal London Hospital is London's leading trauma and emergency centre. To continue and sustain this standard of care, planning permission was awarded in March 2005 for a £1 billion redevelopment and expansion of the Royal London. Upon its completion in 2011, the Royal London Hospital will consolidate its position as London’s leading trauma and emergency care centre, will have one of Europe’s largest renal services and the capital’s second biggest paediatric service. St. Bartholomew's Hospital is also currently being refurbished and refitted in order to continue its specialised approach to cardiovascular and cancer care. A further £100 million has been invested in creating leading-edge research facilities at both the Whitechapel and West Smithfield/Charterhouse Square campuses.

The school has six research institutes:

Barts Cancer Institute, which researches cancer and inflammation, experimental cancer medicine, haemato-oncology, cancer stem cells and ageing, molecular oncology and imaging and tumour biology.[6]
Blizard Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, which focuses on surgery, paediatrics, cutaneous, diabetes, gastroenterology, haematology, infectious diseases neuroscience, pathology and health sciences.
Institute of Dentistry, where research and teaching into adult oral health, oral growth and development, and clinical and diagnostic oral sciences occurs.
Institute of Health Sciences Education, which is responsible for the teaching of pre-clinical medical sciences to medical students along with research in medical education and community based medical education.
William Harvey Research Institute is a world class research facility focussing on biochemical pharmacology, orthopaedic diseases, endocrinology, genomics, clinical pharmacology and translational medicine and therapeutics.
Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine researches preventive medicine, epidemiology, mathematics and statistics, psychology and psychiatry.
Teaching[edit]
A unique aspect to Bart's curriculum is its use of problem based learning, first developed at McMaster University Medical School in Canada in the 1960s. Overall, however, Barts uses an integrated approach as opposed to a solely or predominately PBL one. Students work in groups of eight to ten with a tutor on a clinical case or problem, and use this method of learning to supplement the knowledge they acquire during their lectures.

Research Assessment Exercise 2008[edit]
The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) is one of the few ways in which the academic quality of British medical and dental schools can be compared and ranks research by two principal measures: the proportion of work graded 4* and 3* – world-leading or internationally recognised respectively - and the Grade Point Average (GPA) across the whole profile of the submission.

The results of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), published in December 2008, confirmed Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry as one of the leading medical and dental schools in the United Kingdom. For medicine, the school ranked top in the quality of its research in London, and fourth nationally (behind Edinburgh, Cambridge and Oxford); for dentistry, the school was awarded joint first ranking (along with Manchester).

According to the rankings published in the Times Higher Education, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry was consistently ranked in the top five nationally for the following categories:

Dentistry was ranked 1st equal with Manchester, based on 3* and 4* outputs, and 2nd overall on Grade Point Average out of 14 dental schools.[7]
In Cancer, Barts and The London was ranked 3rd out of 14 submissions in terms of 3* and 4* outputs and joint 5th in the UK overall.[7]
The Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, returned in Hospital Subjects, was ranked joint 1st with Edinburgh and Cambridge in terms of 3* and 4* outputs and was joint 7th overall out of 28.[7]
The Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, returned in Epidemiology and Public Health, was 2nd out of 21 in terms of 3* and 4* outputs, and 3rd overall.[7]
In Health Services Research, Barts and The London's Institute of Health Sciences Education was ranked 4th overall out of 28.[7]
The William Harvey Research Institute, returned in Preclinical and Human Biological Sciences, was ranked 3rd in terms of 3* and 4* outputs, and 4th overall out of 13.[7]
Ranking[edit]
The medical school has scored highly in a number of independent rankings in recent years, placing it in the top 10 of medical schools in the United Kingdom:

ranked 4th by The Complete University Guide (2015)[8]
ranked 4th by The Guardian (2016)
ranked 9th by the QS World University Rankings (2014)
ranked 7th globally by CWTS Leiden Ranking based on the percentage of publications belonging to the top 10% of their field, and 10th globally for the average number of citations the publications of a university received
The dental school has also been ranked highly:

ranked 1st by The Complete University Guide (2015)[8]
ranked 2nd by The Guardian (2015)
Admission[edit]
Admission to the Barts and the London for both medicine and dentistry is highly competitive.[9] Over 2,500 applications to study medicine are received by the school each year.[10] Of these, 800 candidates are interviewed and approximately 440 offers are made.[11] For dentistry, over 700 applications are received, of which 250 candidates are interviewed and approximately 150 offers are made.[12]

For 2015 entry, the minimum entry requirement is AAA at A-level, to include at least two science subjects from Chemistry, Biology, Physics or Maths.[13] [14] The International Baccalaureate Diploma is also an acceptable entry qualification, for which the minimum requirement is 38 points with 6 points in the higher level science subjects and 6 points in the third higher level subject.[15] [16] The school also accepts the Irish Leaving Certificate, Scottish Highers, Cambridge Pre-U and the European Baccalaureate as entry qualifications.[17] [18] Both the medical and dental degrees are open to graduate students, with a minimum of a 2:1 required.[19] [20] Applicants must sit the UK Clinical Aptitude Test which is used alongside the UCAS application to determine selection for interview.[21] [22]

The School accepts medical students from the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and St Andrews aiming to complete a 3-year direct clinical entry programme. Students applying to this scheme do not need to apply by the October 15th deadline and are not required to take the UKCAT.[23]