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School of Medical Sciences, University of Manchester

Coordinates: 53°27′50″N 2°13′51″W / 53.46389°N 2.23083°W / 53.46389; -2.23083
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Manchester Medical School
TypeMedical school
Established1873
DeanProfessor Ian Greer[1]
Location, ,
AffiliationsUniversity of Manchester
Websitewww.bmh.manchester.ac.uk

The School of Medical Sciences at the University of Manchester is one of the largest in the United Kingdom with around 6,000 undergraduates, 3,000 postgraduates and 2,000 staff.[2] It is the third oldest medical school in England and the largest medical school in the United Kingdom.[3] The Faculty is a member of the Manchester Academic Health Science Centre and has four affiliated teaching hospitals at Manchester Royal Infirmary, Wythenshawe Hospital, Salford Royal Hospital and the Royal Preston Hospital.

History of the Medical School

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The first home of the Medical School in Coupland Street, Chorlton on Medlock (as seen in 1908 looking west)[4]

Medical teaching in Manchester began when Charles White founded the first modern hospital in the Manchester district, the Manchester Infirmary (later the Manchester Royal Infirmary), in 1752. He was followed by Joseph Jordan, who opened a School of Anatomy in 1814. In the intervening 60 years more than one private medical school existed in Manchester: the most successful was the Pine Street medical school, not far south of the Infirmary. A faculty of medicine opened in 1873 (at Owens College), and medical degrees were awarded by the Victoria University from 1883. The school was made co-educational in 1899 after a long and contentious debate about whether women could be members of the College at all.[5] The first female medical student to qualify Catherine Chisholm practised as a paediatrician after graduating.[6] The success of the school meant that the building needed to be extended twice, in 1883 and 1894. From 1903/04 degrees were awarded by the Victoria University of Manchester.

A considerable space was allocated to the library of the Manchester Medical Society (founded 1834) which until 1930 remained in their possession while accommodated in the University. The library became part of the university library at that time and remained in the building until 1981 when it was transferred into the present Main Library building of the University of Manchester Library (part of the rare books went to the John Rylands Library).[7][8]

Additional departments were added from time to time: chronologically these were pharmaceutics, dentistry, and public health.[9] A dental hospital was associated with the department of dentistry.

Until 1908 the Manchester Royal Infirmary was at Piccadilly a mile away from the school but in 1908 it moved to a new site on Oxford Road much nearer the medical school and the two institutions were interdependent. The medical school expanded greatly in the 1950s, culminating in the opening of the Stopford Building in 1973 and additionally accepting medical students from University of St Andrews (who have completed their pre-clinical course at St Andrews) and International Medical University, for their clinical studies.

The Medical School today

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Pre-clinical teaching is based at the Stopford Building on Oxford Road, Manchester, for the first two years. Clinical teaching takes place over four teaching 'sectors' in Greater Manchester and Lancashire. Teaching sectors in Greater Manchester are Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (incorporating Manchester Royal Infirmary, Saint Mary's Hospital and the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital); Salford Royal Hospital; and Wythenshawe Hospital. The Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire also serves as a Manchester Medical School teaching sector.

Notable alumni

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References

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  1. ^ "Ian Greer". manchester.ac.uk.
  2. ^ "Facts and figures". manchester.ac.uk.
  3. ^ "Facts and figures". manchester.ac.uk.
  4. ^ The part in the foreground is the extension of 1894, to the left is the part added in 1883, further left the original buildings of 1874 (mostly out of view)
  5. ^ Fiddes, Edward (1941) "Admission of Women to Full University Status", in: Tylecote, Mabel. The Education of Women at Manchester University 1883 to 1933; reprinted in Charlton, H. B. (1951) Portrait of a University. Manchester: U. P.; pp. 153–162
  6. ^ "Catherine Chisholm". Archived from the original on 18 November 2007. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  7. ^ Brockbank, E. M. (1929) "The Manchester Medical Society", in: The Book of Manchester and Salford; written for the British Medical Association. Manchester: George Falkner & Sons, 1929; pp. 229-32
  8. ^ Isherwood, Ian & Mohr, Peter (2000) Medical Men and Medical Science: a history of the library of the Manchester Medical Society 1834-1998. Manchester : Portico Library
  9. ^ The Book of Manchester and Salford; written for the British Medical Association. Manchester: George Falkner & Sons, 1929; pp. 75–85

Further reading

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  • Elwood, Willis J. & Tuxford, A. Felicité (eds.) (1984) Some Manchester Doctors: a biographical collection to mark the 150th anniversary of the Manchester Medical Society, 1834-1984. Manchester: Manchester University Press
  • Peters, James & Gow, Elizabeth (2007) "The medical archive collections of the John Rylands University Library", in: Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester; vol. 87, no. 1 (2005)
  • Mohr, Peter & Jackson, Bill (2007) "The University of Manchester Medical School Museum ...", in: Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester; vol. 87, no. 1 (2005)
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53°27′50″N 2°13′51″W / 53.46389°N 2.23083°W / 53.46389; -2.23083