History of the School
Medical teaching in Manchester began when Charles White founded the first modern hospital in the Manchester area, the Manchester Royal Infirmary, in 1752. He was followed by Joseph Jordan, who opened a School of Anatomy in 1814.
The School opens its doors
Various privately-run medical teaching colleges amalgamated to form the Royal Manchester School of Medicine and Surgery. The School of Medicine was officially opened in October 1874 by Thomas Huxley, one of the great exponents of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. It formed part of Owens College, later to become The University of Manchester.
The first degrees awarded
In the following ten years, teaching and laboratory space expanded dramatically, culminating in 1883 in a charter to allow medical and surgical degrees to be awarded for the first time. During the latter part of the 1800s and early 1900s many new departments were opened and Manchester Royal Infirmary was re-sited on land close to the University. The School's first female medical student, Dr Catherine Chisholm, graduated in 1904.
Postwar expansion
A further grand expansion started in the 1950s under Lord Stopford, and was particularly focused on clinical departments. The new School of Medicine, in the Stopford Building, was opened in 1973 and took in 200 medical, 60 dental, and 20 nursing students. With a further 75 medical students from the University of St Andrews taken into the clinical years, Manchester had become one of the largest medical schools in the world.
Recent developments
In 1994, the School was the first in the country to move to a problem-based learning (PBL) approach to medical education. This develops the key skills required by doctors in the 21st century: the abilities to question, to interpret information and, above all, to communicate effectively with patients.
Medical School Museum
The display cabinets in the entrance foyer and on the first floor of the Stopford Building are part of the University of Manchester Medical School Museum. A museum, and collection of medical instruments, has existed since the Stopford Building opened in 1973. The exhibits on display are just the tip of an iceberg – the full collection includes thousands of items, which are kept in secure storage.
