Expansive Developments
2010s
2012
Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Education welcomes its first students.
2012
Patrick Maxwell appointed Regius.
2012
Wellcome Trust-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute established.
2012
Professor Venkatraman Ramakrishnan of MRC-LMB knighted for services to molecular biology.
2012
Patrick Sissons, Regius Professor of Physic 2005-2012, knighted for services to research and education in clinical medicine.
2013
Caroline Edmonds becomes Secretary of the School.
2013
Stephen O'Rahilly, Professor of Clinical Biochemistry and Medicine, knighted for services to medical research.
2013
Purpose-built building for the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
2013
Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute became part of the University of Cambridge.
2013
MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit established.
2013
Wellcome Trust selects University of Cambridge as one of its five Centres for Global Health Research.
2013
Office for Translational Research (OTR) established to support researchers from the University and associated NHS Foundation Trusts.
2014
Cambridge becomes a British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence.
Collaboration and Transformation
The 2010s saw major investment in both commercial and research partnerships on the Biomedical Campus. For Dr Caroline Edmonds, the Secretary to the School, it was a decade defined by growth: “The School was the first to have a space-based strategy. We have a long-term vision of our projects and buildings, and our departments work collaboratively with a shared understanding.”
Medical education continued to develop through the creation of new postgraduate courses in medical and health sciences, in collaboration with Professional And Continuing Education (PACE) formerly the Institute of Continuing Education (ICE).
The landmark event was that in 2014 – almost 40 years since the School opened – the first cohort guaranteed to remain at Cambridge for both their pre-clinical and clinical years joined the School. As student numbers increased, the School required more room. The student common room, lecture theatres and IT seminar suites were refurbished, the library stacks moved to University Library repositories to transform the top floor into teaching and seminar rooms, and a café with a garden courtyard was created.
By 2017, 290 students enrolled annually for the clinical course. Between 2012 and 2017 a new curriculum was designed to meet the demands of additional rotations for the increasing number of students, together with refurbishments to the School Building.
The Medical Library at the School. Image: Alice the Camera.
Medical students in a practical skills session. Image: Liz Samuel.
A Milestone in Multiple Sclerosis Treatment
The first monoclonal antibody to be used as a therapy in humans and a highly effective treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS), the drug Alemtuzumab has also been used successfully to fight lymphocytic leukaemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, as well as to avert rejection in transplants.
Originally known as Campath-1H, the drug emerged from over four decades of research collaborations at Cambridge: Professor Alastair Compston and Professor Alasdair Coles built on the work of Professor Herman Waldmann, Dr Mike Clark and Professor Geoff Hale. In 2014, Alemtuzumab was approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and by the US Food and Drug Administration. In 2015, Professor Compston was appointed CBE for services to the treatment of MS.
By November 2019, over 25,000 people with MS had been treated with Alemtuzumab. It is licensed in over 70 countries worldwide.
An early aim as Regius was to address the anomaly that almost half of Cambridge’s pre-clinical students had to go somewhere else to do their clinical training. Changing this would need agreement from all 31 Colleges to expand the numbers on the clinical course. I was warned that this would be impossible, or at the very least highly unlikely. But we got there surprisingly quickly.
Patrick Maxwell, Regius Professor of Physic and Head of the School of Clinical Medicine
An early aim as Regius was to address the anomaly that almost half of Cambridge’s pre-clinical students had to go somewhere else to do their clinical training. Changing this would need agreement from all 31 Colleges to expand the numbers on the clinical course. I was warned that this would be impossible, or at the very least highly unlikely. But we got there surprisingly quickly.
Patrick Maxwell, Regius Professor of Physic and Head of the School of Clinical Medicine
THIS Institute
The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute launched in January 2018. It is made possible by a grant from the Health Foundation and aims to co-create a highly credible and actionable evidence base for improving quality and safety in healthcare, working collaboratively with patients, staff and wider stakeholders.
THIS Institute
The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute launched in January 2018. It is made possible by a grant from the Health Foundation and aims to co-create a highly credible and actionable evidence base for improving quality and safety in healthcare, working collaboratively with patients, staff and wider stakeholders.
2014
David Neal, Emeritus Professor of Surgical Oncology, appointed CBE for services to surgery.
2014
Juliet Compston, Emeritus Professor of Bone Medicine, appointed OBE for services to the treatment of osteoporosis.
2015
Anthony John Holland, Professor of the Psychiatry of Learning Disabilities, appointed CBE for services to psychiatry.
2015
Master’s in Genomic Medicine established.
2016
AstraZeneca’s global headquarters moves to Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
2017
Carol Brayne, Emeritus Professor of Public Health Medicine, appointed CBE for services to public health and DBE in 2026 for services to medicine, medical research and public health.
2017
Newly expanded NIHR Cambridge Clinical Research Facility opens.
2017
Theresa Marteau, Director of the Behaviour and Health Research Unit, appointed DBE for services to public health.
2017
Peter Weissberg, the first British Heart Foundation Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, appointed CBE for services to medical research and cardiovascular health.
2017
MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit becomes part of the School.
2017
All students stay in Cambridge for their clinical years for the first time.
The MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology building opened in 2013, as the flagship of the expanding Biomedical Campus. Image: MRC LMB.
Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the new Royal Papworth Hospital on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in 2019. Image: CBC Ltd.
The Deakin Centre, the home of the Clinical Reasoning and Communication Skills course, is named in honour of Tony Deakin CBE who was chairman of Addenbrooke’s NHS Trust from 1996 to 2002.
Groundbreaking Discoveries in Metabolic Science
The Institute of Metabolic Science-Metabolic Research Laboratories and its embedded MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit seek to improve the treatment and prevention of metabolic diseases.
Professor Sir Stephen O'Rahilly and Professor Sadaf Farooqi have led key discoveries in the understanding of obesity. Their research identified the significance of the leptin-melanocortin pathway for the brain's appetite-control system. This work helped transform obesity research from a behavioural model to a biological one.
In their 2023 Gates Cambridge Annual Lecture, O'Rahilly and Farooqi explained how genes impact appetite and weight gain, and how their research has shown that severe obesity can be treated through precision medicine based on an underlying genetic cause.
Translating Research into Impact
The Office for Translational Research (OTR) was established in 2013 to support researchers across the University and associated NHS Foundation Trusts to translate findings from biological, biomedical or clinical research into practical health benefits for patients including new therapeutics, devices, diagnostics or other medical interventions.
The OTR is hosted in the School of Clinical Medicine and is partially funded from NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, the University of Cambridge’s HEIF Higher Education Innovation funding and by grants from UK research councils and industry.
2018
Ian Goodyer, Emeritus Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry appointed OBE for psychiatric research.
2018
Keith Peters, Regius Professor of Physic 1987-2005, appointed GBE for services to the advancement of medical science, having been honoured as Knight Bachelor in 1993 New Year's Honours.
2018
The Healthcare Improvement Studies (THIS) Institute formally launched under the direction of Professor Mary Dixon-Woods.
2018
Health Data Research UK’s Cambridge site established.
2018
First cohort begins Postgraduate Diploma in Medical Education.
2019
Royal Papworth Hospital moves to the Biomedical Campus, opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
2019
Cambridge Stem Cell Institute moves into the purpose-built Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre (JCBC) upon the building's completion.
2019
Milner Therapeutics Institute opens.
2019
Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease opens.