The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London.

History

The Society was established in 1805 as Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, meeting in two rooms in barristers’ chambers at Gray's Inn and then moving to Lincoln's Inn Fields where it stayed for 25 years. In 1834 the Society moved to Berners Street and was granted a Royal Charter by King William IV. In 1889 under the leadership of Sir John MacAlister, a Building Committee chaired by

Timothy Holmes Timothy Holmes FRCS (9 May 1825 in Islington, Greater London – 8 September 1907) was an English surgeon, known as the editor of several editions of ''Gray's Anatomy''. Life Holmes was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and then at Pembroke C ...

supervised the move of the quarters of the Society from Berners Street to 20 Hanover Square. In 1905 an eleven-member committee headed by Sir Richard Douglas Powell organised the celebration of the Society's centenary. Two years later the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London came together with seventeen specialist medical societies and, with a supplementary Royal Charter granted by Edward VII, became the Royal Society of Medicine. In 1910 the Society acquired the site on the corner of Wimpole Street and Henrietta Place, which was opened by King George V and Queen Mary in May 1912.

Governance

The Council is the governing body of the Society and is responsible for setting the overall strategic direction of the RSM. Council members are the Society's Trustees. The Council is chaired by the President, who has a three-year term of office. There are four Standing Committees (Education, Audit and Risk, Finance and Investment, Remuneration, People and Culture). The Chief Executive is responsible for the day-to-day management and leads the Senior Management Team, comprising the Directors and the Dean of Education. Each Director has their own specific responsibilities.

Presidents

Recent presidents of the society have been: Previous presidents of note of the former

Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society The Medical and Chirurgical Society of London was a learned society of physicians and surgeons which was founded in 1805 by 26 personalities in these fields who had left the Medical Society of London (founded 1773) because of disagreement with th ...

of London were: *

Frederick William Pavy Frederick William Pavy (29 May 1829 – 19 September 1911) was a British physician and physiologist and the discoverer of Pavy disease, a cyclic or recurrent physiologic albuminuria. Life Pavy was born in Wroughton and educated at Merc ...

(1900) * Sir James Paget (1875) *

Joseph Hodgson Joseph Hodgson (1788–1869) was a British physician and a well-known Quaker. He was born in Penrith, Cumberland, the son of a Birmingham merchant and educated at King Edward VI School, Birmingham, after which he was apprenticed to George F ...

(1851) * Thomas Addison (1849) * Richard Bright (1837) * William Saunders (1805 (1st))

Membership

The RSM has a global network of 20,000 members. Fellowship of the RSM is open to those who hold a UK recognised medical, dental or veterinary qualification, or a higher scientific qualification in a healthcare related field. Associate membership is open to those who do not qualify for Fellowship but who work within the healthcare sector or have an interest in healthcare issues. The Society also welcomes student members of medicine, dentistry and veterinary science as members plus other healthcare students. In addition there are up to one hundred Honorary Fellows, drawn from internationally distinguished members of the medical profession and branches of science and allied humanities, who are awarded this honour by Council. Famous Honorary Fellows (of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London) include: *

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

* Louis Pasteur *

Edward Jenner Edward Jenner, (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was a British physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines, and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. The terms ''vaccine'' and ''vaccination'' are derived f ...

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...

Sections

The RSM has 55 Sections and Societies that cover all the major specialties and topics of interest in medicine and healthcare. Together the Section Councils are responsible for planning the majority of the RSM’s education programme. Each Section is led by a Section President, and supported by its respective Section Council, which members may apply to join.

Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine

The Royal Society of Medicine’s two journals, the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (JRSM) and ''JRSM Open'', are outlets for scholarly comment and clinical research in the specialties of medicine and surgery. Published by SAGE Publishing, the journals are editorially independent from the Royal Society of Medicine, and their editor is Dr

Kamran Abbasi Kamran Abbasi is the editor-in-chief of the ''British Medical Journal'' (''BMJ''), a physician, visiting professor at the Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College, London, editor of the '' Journal of the Royal Society of Med ...

.JRSM Open is an online-only journal that follows the open-access publishing model. A companion to JRSM, the journal publishes research papers, research letters, clinical reviews and case reports in all specialties and from all countries.

Awards

The annual Ellison-Cliffe Travelling Fellowship of £15,000 is open to Fellows of the Royal Society of Medicine working in the UK or Ireland who are of specialist registrar or lecturer grade or equivalent or who are consultants within 3 years of their first consultant appointment. The prize covers expenses for travel abroad in pursuit of further study, research or clinical training relevant to the applicant's current interests. The History of Medicine Society's prestigious Norah Schuster prize is awarded annually to an essay in the history of medicine. The Society's Gold Medal is awarded for outstanding contribution to medicine. Past recipients have included

Wilfred Trotter Wilfred Batten Lewis Trotter, FRS (3 November 1872 – 25 November 1939) was an English surgeon, a pioneer in neurosurgery. He was also known for his studies on social psychology, most notably for his concept of the herd instinct, which he fi ...

(1938), Sir Alexander Fleming (1947), Lord Florey (1947), Sir Martin John Evans (2009), Lord Walton of Detchant (2014), Sir Michael Marmot (2017) and more recently Dame Sarah Gilbert (2021). The Edward Jenner Medal was originally established in 1896 by the Epidemiological Society of London (1850–1907) to commemorate the centenary of Edward Jenner's discovery of a means of smallpox vaccination. It is awarded periodically by the RSM to individuals who have undertaken distinguished work in epidemiological research. The Society hosts the annual Ellison-Cliffe Lecture concerning the advancement of medicine, along with the associated award of a medal. Past presenters/recipients include Sir

Walter Bodmer Sir Walter Fred Bodmer (born 10 January 1936) is a German-born British human geneticist. Early life Bodmer was born in Frankfurt, Germany. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and went on to study the Mathematical Tripos at the Uni ...

, Lord

George Porter George Porter, Baron Porter of Luddenham (6 December 1920 – 31 August 2002) was a British chemist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967. Education and early life Porter was born in Stainforth, near Thorne, in the then West ...

, Sir Colin Blakemore and

Kevin Warwick Kevin Warwick (born 9 February 1954) is an English engineer and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Coventry University. He is known for his studies on direct interfaces between computer systems and the human nervous system, and has also done ...

Library

The RSM is home to one of the largest medical libraries in Europe. It is open to members of the public, who can visit its exhibitions and become temporary members to make use of its reference facilities. The Library represents one of the largest postgraduate biomedical collections in Europe and contains around 600,000 volumes. This includes

William Harvey William Harvey (1 April 1578 – 3 June 1657) was an English physician who made influential contributions in anatomy and physiology. He was the first known physician to describe completely, and in detail, the systemic circulation and propert ...

's ''Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinisin animalbus''. Due to its historical Library holdings, the Royal Society of Medicine is a member of

The London Museums of Health & Medicine The London Museums of Health & Medicine is a group that brings together some of the activities of several museums in London, England, related to health and medicine. The group was founded in 1991. The museums and medical organisations are: *Al ...

group.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Society Of Medicine 1805 establishments in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures in the City of Westminster Health in the City of Westminster Libraries in the City of Westminster Medical associations based in the United Kingdom Organisations based in the City of Westminster Organisations based in London with royal patronage Organizations established in 1805 Medical museums in London