School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge

School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge
The School of Clinical Medicine is the medical school of the University of Cambridge in England. The medical school ranks as 2nd in the world in the 2023 Times Higher Education Ranking, and as 1st in The Complete University Guide, followed by Oxford University Medical School, Harvard Medical School, and Stanford School of Medicine. The Cambridge Graduate Course in Medicine (A101) is the most competitive course offered by the University and in the UK, and is among the most competitive medical programs for entry in the world. The school is located alongside Addenbrooke's Hospital and other institutions in multiple buildings across the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
The Clinical School
The Clinical School offers the A100 six-year standard course (accepting approximately 280 students each year) or the A101 accelerated graduate course (accepting approximately 30 students each year). Around 10% of applicants were accepted to the A100 standard course for 2022 entry, with 22 places for overseas fee-status applicants. Around 3% of applicants were accepted to the A101 graduate course in 2023.
On the standard A100 course, students typically enter the clinical school on completion of three years of pre-clinical training. Approximately half of clinical training in Cambridge takes place at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, with the other half located in regional hospitals and general practices across the east of England.
The accelerated A101 Graduate Entry Course leads to the award of MB BChir (Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Surgery) in 3-4 years, with approximately 30 students in each cohort. This course is designed for those who already hold bachelor's degrees in applied or theoretical sciences. This course has an intensive 2–year component with a mix of pre-clinical and clinical teaching, and then the cohort integrates with A100 students in their 5th year for the final two years of the course.
Entry
The Clinical School was established in 1976 while construction of the new building at its present site was underway. 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. Before 2017, approximately half of medical students left Cambridge after the pre-clinical course as there were not enough places on the clinical course for them all; common destinations included medical schools based in Oxford, London and Manchester. From 2017, all medical students continue to study in Cambridge for the full six years provided they pass the pre-clinical component of the course.
Students enter the clinical course at Cambridge following satisfactory progression during the pre-clinical component of the combined medical course or as part of the graduate course.
Departments
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
Obstetrics 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
MRC Cancer Unit
Institute of Metabolic Science (IMS-MRL)
Cambridge Institute for Medical Research (CIMR)
Institute of Public Health
Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute
MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit
Herchel Smith Laboratory for Medicinal Chemistry
The Herchel Smith Laboratory for Medicinal Chemistry is a laboratory under the aegis of the Regius Professor of Physic in the School of Clinical Medicine.
Notable people
The teaching of medicine at the University of Cambridge dates back to 1540 when Henry VIII endowed the University’s first Professorship of Physic, Dr John Blyth. In 1842, George Paget, the famous physician, into his third year at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, pioneered bedside examinations.
Patrick Maxwell, Regius Professorship of Physic
Kay-Tee Khaw, Professor of Clinical Gerontology
Ieuan Hughes, Professor Emeritus of Paediatrics
See also
Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Addenbrooke's Hospital
References
Medical schools in England
University and college laboratories in the United Kingdom
Medical research institutes in the United Kingdom