St Thomas's Hospital Medical School in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

was one of the oldest and most prestigious medical schools in the UK. The school was absorbed to form part of GKT School of Medical Education.

History

It was part of one of the oldest hospitals in London, St Thomas' Hospital established in 1173 but whose roots can be traced to the establishment of St Mary Overie Priory in 1106. According to historical records ''St Thomas's Hospital Medical School'' was founded in about 1550. It was admitted as a school of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

in 1900 but remained a constituent part of ''St Thomas' Hospital'' until 1948 when it formally became part of the university. In 1982, it merged with the medical school at Guy's Hospital to form the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals. In turn UMDS was absorbed by King's College London School of Medicine and Dentistry, but the dentists have since been split out into The Dental Institute.

Name

Unlike the hospital which in recent times dropped the possessive "s", the medical school continued with the original spelling.

Departments

Department of Community Medicine

Notable people

Notable former members of staff

* Thomas Wharton (1614–1673) -

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

best known for his descriptions of the submandibular duct * William Cheselden (1688–1752) - surgeon and specialist in the removal of bladder stones * Astley Cooper (1768–1841) -

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

and

* Thomas Wakley (1795–1862) - surgeon and social reformer * Edward Headlam Greenhow (1814–1888) - first lecturer appointed at St Thomas's * Herbert Barrie (1927-2017) - neonatologist * Beulah Bewley (1929–2018) - campaigner for women's opportunities in medicine * Karen Dunnell (b. 1946) - UK National Statistician * Doug Altman (1948–2018) - statistician

Notable alumni

* John Sherwen (1749–1846) - Physician and author * Sir Bryan Donkin (1845-1927) - physician and criminologist * Takaki Kanehiro (1849–1920) - Japanese naval doctor, first person to discover the link between

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and diet. *

Charles Scott Sherrington Sir Charles Scott Sherrington (27 November 1857 – 4 March 1952) was a British neurophysiology, neurophysiologist. His experimental research established many aspects of contemporary neuroscience, including the concept of the spinal reflex as a ...

(1857–1952) - Nobel Prize for Physiology for work on functions of neurons *

Havelock Ellis Henry Havelock Ellis (2 February 1859 – 8 July 1939) was an English physician, eugenicist, writer, Progressivism, progressive intellectual and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He co-wrote the first medical textbook in English on h ...

(1859–1939) - Physician, sexual psychologist and social reformer. * Oguntola Sapara (1861–1935) - Medical doctor and activist. Known for Smallpox eradication in Nigeria. * W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) - Playwright, novelist, short story writer. * Eric Anson (1892–1969) - New Zealand's first specialist anaesthetist. * Max Theiler (1899 – 1972) - Virologist, awarded the

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, acco ...

in 1951 for developing a vaccine for yellow fever * Harold Ridley (1906–2001) -

ophthalmologist Ophthalmology (, ) is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of eye diseases and disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a ...

who invented

intraocular lens An intraocular lens (IOL) is a lens (optics), lens implanted in the human eye, eye usually as part of a treatment for cataracts or for correcting other vision problems such as myopia, near-sightedness (myopia) and farsightedness, far-sightednes ...

* John B. Harman (1907–1995) - president of the Medical Defence Union and chairman of the British National Formulary * Rustom Jal Vakil (1911-1974) - Eminent Indian cardiologist, recipient of the prestigious Lasker Prize known as the American Nobel. * David Anderson, 2nd Viscount Waverley (1911 – 1990), British cardiologist and member of the House of Lords * Richard Doll (1912–2005) - Epidemiologist and

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out chemical and ...

; established link between

smoking Smoking is a practice in which a substance is combusted, and the resulting smoke is typically inhaled to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream of a person. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, whi ...

and

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

. * John Cosh (1915 – 2005) - rheumatologist * Richard Bayliss (1917–2006) - Physician to the Queen and head of the Medical Household * Dame Cecily Saunders DBE OM (1918–2005) - Nurse, physician and social worker who developed the concept of the hospice and was a pioneer of palliative care. * Humphrey Kay (1923–2009) - Haematologist * Walter W. Holland CBE (1929–2018) - Epidemiologist and

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

physician * Anthony Yates (1930-2004) - rheumatologist and

consultant A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Cons ...

, president of the British Association for Rheumatology and of the Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Section of the

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society based at 1 Wimpole Street, London, UK. It is a registered charity, with admission through membership. Its Chief Executive is Michele Acton. History The Royal Society of Medicine (R ...

* Mary Baines (1932–2020) - palliative care physician * David Owen (b. 1938) - Labour Foreign Secretary and founder of the Social Democratic Party. * Elizabeth M. Bryan (1942–2008) - Paediatrician and expert on twins. * Jeffrey Tate (1943-2017) - Conductor * Philip Poole-Wilson (1943–2009) - cardiologist * Sir Gordon Duff (b. 1947) - Principal of St Hilda's College, Oxford * Vicky Clement-Jones (1948–1987) - Founder of the British Association for Cancer United Patients. * Gilbert Thompson (physician) (born 1932) - lipidology expert and academic * Roger Jones (b. 1948) - professor of general practice, and editor of the '' British Journal of General Practice'' * James Colthurst (born 1957), radiologist * Fiona Wood AM (b. 1958) - Plastic surgeon, Australian of the Year 2005. * Phil Hammond (b. 1962) - comedian and commentator on health issues

References

External links

Lists of St. Thomas's Hospital Medical School students

List of St. Thomas's Hospital Medical School military personnel, 1914-1918
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Thomass Hospital Medical School Medical schools in London 16th-century establishments in England History of the London Borough of Lambeth Former colleges of the University of London GKT School of Medical Education