Proud Beginnings
1976 to 1979
1976
School of Clinical Medicine founded.
1977
Chair of Community Medicine established.
1978
School’s first cohort of clinical students graduate.
1978
Student-run Cambridge Medicine Journal founded.
1979
The clinical course lengthens to 2 and a quarter years.
Founding the School of Clinical Medicine
Following the establishment of the new Faculty of Clinical Medicine effective from 1 January 1975, the School was officially founded on 27 September 1976 with its first cohort of clinical students. Princess Margaret inaugurated the School on 28 October 1976. At the inauguration ceremony held in the Addenbrooke’s Hospital Chapel, Professor Joseph Mitchell told the audience they were part of a great and ancient University, where the first record of the MD degree dated back more than 500 years to 1460. But his speech focused on patients rather than history: ‘In the management of patients, science is the servant, not the master.’
Professor Joseph Mitchell’s handwritten speech for the 27 September 1976 opening of the School. Image: Cambridge University Library.
Founding the School of Clinical Medicine
Following the establishment of the new Faculty of Clinical Medicine effective from 1 January 1975, the School was officially founded on 27 September 1976 with its first cohort of clinical students. Princess Margaret inaugurated the School on 28 October 1976. At the inauguration ceremony held in the Addenbrooke’s Hospital Chapel, Professor Joseph Mitchell told the audience they were part of a great and ancient University, where the first record of the MD degree dated back more than 500 years to 1460. But his speech focused on patients rather than history: ‘In the management of patients, science is the servant, not the master.’
Professor Joseph Mitchell’s handwritten speech for the 27 September 1976 opening of the School. Image: Cambridge University Library.
A Vigorous Start
The School’s early years were marked by tremendous expansion.
January 1976 saw busy preparation for the first intake of students that September and in 1978 the first cohort of clinical students graduated. By September 1979 the School had 159 students. The clinical course lengthened to two-and-a-quarter years in 1979, with students qualifying in December and moving to pre-registration house officer posts the following February.
The School established new departments – obstetrics, psychiatry, community medicine, radiology and paediatrics – and began forging close ties with its neighbour, the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology.
It also began attracting interest from donors. Dr Herchel Smith funded a new chair of experimental therapeutics, Help the Aged (now Age UK) began fundraising for a chair of clinical gerontology, and the Rank Prize Funds supported a programme in clinical nutrition.
The School developed plans for departments of behavioural medicine, clinical pharmacology and anaesthetics, and for chairs in orthopaedics, ophthalmology, neurosciences, paediatric pathology and urology.
The School’s inaugural clinical cohort of faculty and students in September 1976. Image: Edward Leigh.
Members of the inaugural clinical cohort of faculty and students gathered on the School's spiral staircase at the 50th Anniversary Reunion. Image: Nordin Ćatić.
From the outset, the new undergraduate clinical school was dynamic and welcoming. Small group teaching was, and remains, one of its strengths. Dr Peter Freedman – who was among the School’s first University Lecturers in Medicine – remarked on the novel idea of the subject-based course: it offered the School’s first clinical students an integrated perspective on medicine.
The School’s links with scientific research – particularly molecular biology – also underpinned its excellence and Professor Anthony Edwards’ course of 16 lectures in human genetics was met with enthusiasm. The College system ensured that, despite the School’s physical distance from the centre of Cambridge, medical students were anchored in the rich interdisciplinary and extra-curricular experiences of University life.
Recalling the School’s early days, Dr John Hunter noted how the Addenbrooke’s consultants shared a keenness to impart knowledge and warmly welcomed the new clinical students. Emeritus Professor Robin Carrell also recollected the clinicians’ zeal: ‘That esprit de corps passed on to the students. Their enthusiasm was infectious – everyone was proud to be part of the School.’
Foundation Professors
- Biochemistry Hermann Lehmann CBE FRS
- Clinical Biochemistry Nick Hales FRS FMedSci
- Haematology Frank Hayhoe FRCP
- Medicine Ivor Mills FRCP
- Obstetrics and Gynaecology Charles Douglas FRCOG
- Paediatrics John Davis FRCP
- Psychiatry Sir Martin Roth FRS
- Public Health (Community Medicine) Roy Acheson FRCP FFCM FFOM
- Radiology Thomas Sherwood FRCP FRCR
- Surgery Sir Roy Calne FRS FRCS
Foundation Professors
- Biochemistry Hermann Lehmann CBE FRS
- Clinical Biochemistry Nick Hales FRS FMedSci
- Haematology Frank Hayhoe FRCP
- Medicine Ivor Mills FRCP
- Obstetrics and Gynaecology Charles Douglas FRCOG
- Paediatrics John Davis FRCP
- Psychiatry Sir Martin Roth FRS
- Public Health (Community Medicine) Roy Acheson FRCP FFCM FFOM
- Radiology Thomas Sherwood FRCP FRCR
- Surgery Sir Roy Calne FRS FRCS
