The School of Clinical Medicine: From the Archives

The School of Clinical Medicine: From the Archives

  • The School of Clinical Medicine 50 Year Anniversary logo overlays photographs from the School archives.

The School of Clinical Medicine 50 Year Anniversary logo overlays photographs from the School archives.

Browse some snapshots from the first 50 years of the School.

  • The front of the School of Clinical Medicine building in 2025.
  • The inaugural year of Clinical School students and faculty in September 1976. Image Credit: Edward Leigh Photographers.
  • The unveiling of the plaque to mark the opening of the School building in 1980. Image Credit: CUH Archives.
  • The front of the School of Clinical Medicine building in 1999. Image Credit: Cambridge University Hospitals Archives.
  • Medical Library Cases circa 1980. Image Credit: Medical Photography Department.
  • The Medical Library at the School circa 1980. Image Credit: Cambridge University Hospitals Archives
  • The staircase of the School of Clinical Medicine circa 1990s. Image Credit: CUH Archives, Cambs Health Authority.
  • The spiral staircase at the entrance to the School. Image Credit: Mark Shadbolt.
  • One of the first Clinical Communications Skills sessions at the School led by Penny Morris. Image Credit: Carlos Guarita.
  • A present day Clinical Reasoning and Communication Skills group session. Image Credit: CRCS.
  • Students working in the Medical Library. Image Credit: Alice the Camera.
  • The Medical Library's skeleton, known as Dr Boneparte. Image Credit: Alice the Camera.
  • A Preparing for Patients session in 2017. Image Credit: Nick Saffell.
  • Pre-clinical students gather for a teaching session. Image Credit: Cecilia Brassett.
  • Students in the William Harvey Lecture Theatre in 2017. Image Credit: Lloyd Mann University Communications Office.

The School of Clinical Medicine welcomed its first cohort of 52 clinical students in September 1976. 

The new School, established from decades of planning and determined leadership, continued the University's long and thriving history of medical research and education.

Now with over 3,000 staff and 2,000 students across more than 20 Departments, Institutes and Medical Research Council Units, the School exists to deliver world-changing health innovations, contribute to excellent patient care, and educate the scientists and doctors of the future.

The front of the School of Clinical Medicine building.

 

Do you have any photographs from your time at the School?

 

If you would like to contribute any images from your student days at the School, we would be delighted to hear from you!

You can get in touch by email: departments@alumni.cam.ac.uk

  • Aerial drone image of the hospital chimney on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus today.
  • The beginnings of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus circa 1960s. Image Credit: Cambridge University Hospitals Archives.
  • The site of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus from the air in 1987. Image Credit: CUCAP, Cambridge University Digital Library.
  • Aerial drone image of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus today, showing the Addenbrooke's Outpatients building in the foreground.
  • Royal Papworth Hospital, AstraZeneca's Disc, and the Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Heart & Lung Research Institute on Campus today.

Today, the School sits at the heart of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

What began as a large greenfield site on Hills Road in the 1960s has grown considerably through collaboration with academia, industry, and the NHS.

As Europe's leading life sciences cluster, the Campus employs over 22,000 people.