Barts and The London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry

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Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry

Established: 1123 (Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital)
1785 (London Hospital Medical College)
1843 (Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital)
1995 (Barts and The London Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry)
President: The Rt Hon The Lord Mayor of London
Warden: Professor Sir Nicholas Wright
Students: 2,300 (total)
Location: London, United Kingdom
Colours:
                     
Affiliations: Queen Mary, University of London
Website: http://www.smd.qmul.ac.uk
Image:barts_crest.jpg

Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry is the medical school of Queen Mary, University of London (Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London) and has existed in this form since 1995.

It was formed in that year by the merger of the London Hospital Medical College (the oldest medical school in England and Wales, founded in 1785), the Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital (the hospital having been founded in about 1123 and teaching medicine from that date, initially as an apprenticeship until it formally became a medical college in 1843) and Queen Mary and Westfield College (which began teaching medicine in 1989). St Bartholomew's hospital is, notably, the oldest remaining hospital in England. The school exists on three main sites, having a presence at Queen Mary's main (Mile End) campus as well as 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. A new building (Blizard Building), named after the founder of The London Hospital Medical College, Sir William Blizard, has recently been completed at the Royal London site, and houses both laboratories and the main site for medical undergraduate teaching. As of 2008 the school accepts 277 British medical students per annum and an additional 17 from overseas, making it one of the largest medical schools in the UK 1.

Contents

History

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 medical school, opened in 1785, pioneering a new kind of medical education providing teaching in theory as well as clinical skills.

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 London, larger premises, still in use in the present School of Medicine and Dentistry, were built in Turner Street in 1854.

In 1900 both medical colleges became constituent colleges of 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 the collaboration between dentists and other professionals.

Between the Wars, students at The London needing to complete a First MB (in Biology, Chemistry and Physics) attended Queen Mary College for a year before proceeding to 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 at the Basic Medical Sciences Building at Queen Mary. In 1992, Barts, The London and the London Chest Hospital joined to form the (now) Barts and The London NHS Trust, with a full merger of the medical colleges with Queen Mary taking place three years later. Today Barts and The London is one of Britain's leading medical and dental schools with 1,600 undergraduate and 750 postgraduate students and a growing reputation for research across many disciplines.

Barts and The London Students' Association

Barts and The London Students' Association is the students' union for the medical school, a largely autonomous arm of Queen Mary Students' Union (QMSU) formed when the Students Union of St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School and the London Hospital Clubs Union merged with QMSU at the time their parent bodies merged in 1995. The medical school's Students' Association has a very distinct culture from that of QMSU, and has its own clubs and societies for most sports and activities, e.g. the highly successful BL Rugby club ([www.bartslondonrfc.com]) who recently have won the United Hospitals 7's cup beating Imperial in the final, and the BL Boat club.

Notable former members of staff

Alumni of The London Hospital Medical School and Barts Medical School

Famous alumni from some of the institutions which combined to form the current medical school include:

Fictional Alumni

  • Harold Legg - Doctor in the British soap opera EastEnders from 1985–1997, making guest appearances in 2000 and 2004
  • Doctor Watson - Sherlock Holmes's companion and "biographer": not only did the two first meet in the pathology laboratories, but also Watson refers to his time as a "dresser" (the equivalent nowadays of the surgical houseman) at Bart's

See also

External links

Coordinates: 51°30′59″N 0°3′39″W / 51.51639, -0.06083

References

  1. ^ "British Medical School Statistics". Study-medicine.co.uk. Retrieved on 2008-09-08.

Wikipedia content modification information:

  • This page was last modified on 2 December 2008, at 01:39.

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